Steven Caple Jr.’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has just secured some extra grizzled gravitas, following the reveal that Ron Perlman will be voicing Optimus Primal in next year’s seventh installment of the long-running franchise.
For those unfamiliar with the Beast Wars mythos that’s being incorporated into next summer’s blockbuster, Optimus Primal is the leader of the Maximal faction, and as you may be able to infer from the name, can transform into a hulking cybernetic gorilla. It’s going to be the battle of the legendary voice actors when the two Optimuses (Optimii?) encounter each other in Rise of the Beasts, with Peter Cullen’s Prime set to cross paths with Perlman’s Primal.
This won’t even be the Hellboy star’s first time lending his vocal talents to the role, after he appeared as Optimus Primal in seven episodes of 2018 animated series Transformers: Power of the Primes, so anyone who wants to see how he’ll fare in Rise of the Beasts already has a reference point should they be interested in checking it out.
The latest chapter in the saga kicked off by Michael Bay back in 2007 will act as a sequel to Travis Knight’s Bumblebee, but also offer something of a clean slate for a property that was starting to run out of gas. Throwing the Maximals, Predacons and Terrorcons into the mix alonside the Autobots and Decepticons should provide plenty of opportunity for fresh plot points and action sequences, while the 1990s setting will even allow for a healthy helping of nostalgia, something audiences can’t seem to get enough of these days. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is shooting as we speak, and hits theaters on June 24th, 2022.