New Transformers Film Adds Zack Snyder's Justice League Production Designer

Transformers has been part of our pop-culture consciousness for decades, between the various cartoons and merchandising lines, as well as nearly fifteen years of live-action movies. After the success of the franchise's Bumblebee spinoff, Paramount Pictures and Hasbro have been confirming plans to reimagine the franchise, confirming late last year that a new film was in the works and was to be directed by Creed II's Steven Caple Jr., with a script from John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum's Joby Harold. While updates surrounding the new Transformers film have been relatively scarce, we do know one new addition to the project -- production designer Patrick Tatopoulos. The news of Tatopoulos joining the project was confirmed by DiscussingFilm.

Tatopoulos' filmography ranges pretty wildly, with early work serving as a creature effects designer on films like Super Mario Bros., Spawn, Godzilla, and Stuart Little. In recent years, his work has included collaborating with Zack Snyder on 300: Rise of an Empire, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, as well as the upcoming Zack Snyder's Justice League. His work also includes Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, the recent Beauty and the Beast remake, and I, Robot.

It is unclear exactly what the plot of this upcoming reboot/relaunch will entail, although previous reports seemed to indicate that Harold's script was one of two projects being eyed to relaunch the franchise. Harold's script has been previously referred to as a follow-up to 2018's Bumblebee, while Independence Day: Resurgence writer James Vanderbilt was tied to a larger-scale film based on the '90s cartoon Beast Wars.

"We are already working on two projects and both have scripts under development," longtime franchise producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura said back in January. "One is the latest in the main family series following the events of Transformers: The Last Knight and the other is a sequel to Bumblebee. So, we are thinking of films where Optimus Prime and Bumblebee will be the buddies, but when Optimus and Bumblebee are the movies of the protagonists … how human beings get involved in their drama In the first place, the size is different between human beings and their's …. It's a worrying point (laughs)."

What do you think of Tatopoulous joining the next Transformers film? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!