Paramount Sets Voice Cast for Animated 'Transformers One' Film with Chris Hemsworth as Young Optimus Prime & Brian Tyree Henry as Young Megatron

by Darian Scalamoni

    While Michael Bay has mostly been nabbing the Transformers space, it seems Paramount has moved in a different direction with marketing their robots in disguise. With Steven Caple Jr.'s upcoming Rise of the Beasts live-action feature, there seems to be enough room for a new animated take on the big-budget franchise with Paramount Animation teaming with Hasbro and eOne for an upcoming film titled Transformers One. 

    An announcement was made at CinemaCon that the animated origin film would hit theaters on July 19, 2024 with a voice cast that features: Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Love and Thunder), Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) and Keegan-Michael Key (The Super Mario Bros. Movie).

    Transformers One will follow a young Optimus Prime (Hemsworth) and a young Megatron (Henry) who went from being the best of friends to ultimate enemies. Additionally, Johansson will voice Elita, Key will voice Bumblebee, Hamm will voice Sentinel Prime and Fishburne portrays Alpha Trion. Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4) will direct the script written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari.

    Hemsworth will next appear in Extraction 2 on Netflix this June before appearing in Furiosa. Henry is a recent Oscar-nominee for his performance in PTSD drama Causeway. He'll next return to his voice role as Jefferson Davis in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and will star in FX sci-fi drama Class of '09 with Kate Mara.

    Johansson will appear in Wes Anderson's latest Asteroid City before starring in Greg Berlanti's Project Artemis which recently wrapped filming. Hamm had a supporting turn in last year's Best Picture nominee Top Gun: Maverick and will next turn back to television appearing in the upcoming seasons of Fargo and The Morning Show.

    Keegan-Michael Key voices Toad in the current box-office juggernaut, The Super Mario Bros. Movie. He also is one of the stars of the AppleTV musical series Schmigadoon! alongside Cecily Strong. He'll next appear on the big screen for the prequel film, Wonka starring Timothee Chalamet as the young chocolatier. Meanwhile, Fishburne recently reprised his role as Bowery King for John Wick: Chapter 4. He'll next appear in Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis but is gearing up to play legendary NBA coach Doc Rivers in the FX series, The Sterling Affairs.