Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Director Reveals How That Final Scene Shocker Sets Up the Franchise's Future
The Transformers franchise returned to the big screen this weekend with the debut of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. The film, set in the 1990s, introduced some new Autobots, as well as the Maximals and villainous Predacons. It also used its final scene for a much bigger introduction to the franchise, teasing a massive expansion for the world of the Transformers in the future. WARNING: This article contains major spoilers from Transformers: Rise of the Beasts! Continue reading at your own risk...
The final scene of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts sees its main character, Noah (Anthony Ramos), recruited to a shadowy government agency. It's revealed in the final seconds that the organization is none other than GI Joe, the group from Hasbro's iconic action figure line. This puts the Transformers and GI Joe in the same world, which fans of the toys and animated shows have been hoping to see for quite some time.
Rise of the Beasts director Steven Caple Jr. is a big fan of both. After the film was released, he opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about the GI Joe intro will affect the franchise moving forward.
"Yeah, it was figuring out a way to use the G.I. Joe technology because they're known for their tech. I was like, 'Maybe we don't have to go through the classic characters like Snake Eyes and Duke and all these other characters. Maybe there's a way we can use other characters that haven't been utilized as much.' There's different series and editions and different factions of G.I. Joe as well," Caple Jr. said. "There's G.I. Joe: Renegades and different branches of it, too. So I started to play with that, and I pitched versions of it to the studio and the producers. I pitched a direction I wanted to go in and ways to branch out the universe in general. Transformers movies have scope and size, but we've been spending a lot of time here on Earth, so I just think there's more out there. Even in the graphic novels for Transformers, there's other planets and things like that, and I was like, 'We're just thinking too small.' So, if we're going to do movie number eight and nine and ten, maybe there's a way to make this all more expansive and branch out."
How Did GI Joe Return in Transformers?
GI Joe and Transformers both appeared in a popular crossover comic series, setting the precedent that the two properties can work together on the big screen in the future.
"And then I thought about this comic book series that was done a while ago [1987]. It was a four-issue limited edition, and it was a crossover between G.I. Joe and Transformers," Caple told THR. "And so I presented it to Lorenzo [di Bonaventura] first, the producer, and then [producer] Mark Vahradian. So those guys were the first ones to hear my pitch. I had already pitched a whole film to the studio, but this was new. And so I just saw the sparkle in Lorenzo's eyes. He was really excited about it. He was like, 'This could be crazy. This is good. I dig this.' He's heard about it before, but never tried it. And he was like, 'Maybe you don't pitch it to the studio. Maybe you just write it in the script and go for it. Let them read your draft of the film and see how they react.' And that's what we did."
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which premieres on June 9th, is the seventh movie in the live-action Transformers franchise. Inspired by the fan-favorite reboot of the series, the iconic Beast Wars, the movie is a globetrotting adventure set in the 1990s complete with an era-specific soundtrack. Peter Cullen returns to voice Optimus Prime in the new movie, appearing alongside other Autobots and Decepticons including Bumblebee and Pete Davidson as Mirage. Other factions from the Transformers franchise like the Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons will also appear, with Ron Perlman set to voice the gorilla-inspired Optimus Primal. Directed by Creed II's Steven Caple Jr. the film stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback on the human side with Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh voicing the Maximal Airazor.