Transformers’ Most Criminally Overlooked Movie is Getting an Unexpected Follow-Up

July 13, 2026, 7:00am

Transformers One earned near-universal acclaim while reintroducing Optimus Prime (voiced by Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron (voiced by Brian Tyree Henry) as the miners Orion Pax and D-16, whose friendship curdles into the war that defines the entire Transformers mythology. Director Josh Cooley built an origin story that traded the human-centric spectacle of the live-action films for something more intimate, and both critics and fans rewarded that approach. Yet despite the goodwill, the film struggled to translate acclaim into ticket sales during its theatrical run, and Paramount has since confirmed that a sequel isn’t in active development. However, fans hoping to revisit that version of Cybertron may finally get their wish, though not through the channel anyone expected.

Videos by ComicBook.com

During BotCon ’26 in Chicago, the Chinese toy company Blokees announced a new project called Transformers Galaxy, positioned as a continuation of the story Transformers One began on Cybertron. Blokees described the endeavor as an “officially authorized fanimated social media collaboration,” with voice actor Jon Bailey stepping into the role of Optimus Prime and Bob Carter voicing Megatron. Blokees has built its reputation for producing affordable, non-transforming buildable figures under license from Hasbro, expanding its “Transformers Galaxy Version” toy line into one of the busiest corners of the collector market. The BotCon reveal marks the company’s first major push into original animated storytelling, rather than toys alone, although the footage shown during the convention underlines how the series will use 3D models of Blokees’ figurines as characters.

It’s Still Criminal That Transformers One Bombed at the Box Office

Transformers One currently holds an 89% critics score and a 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Those figures place it two points behind Bumblebee’s 91% critics score as the best-reviewed film in the franchise, while comfortably surpassing it with general audiences. Either way, Transformers One stands as a statistical outlier in a franchise that has otherwise struggled with critics since Michael Bay’s original 2007 film, which itself only managed a 57% score. The sequels that followed, Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon, Age of Extinction, and The Last Knight, sank progressively lower, bottoming out at 16% for The Last Knight in 2017.

That steady critical decline was echoed by diminishing box office returns, and by the time Rise of the Beasts arrived in 2023, moviegoers had largely tuned out despite a modest critical rebound to 52%. In part due to the franchise’s complicated theatrical history, Transformers One opened to $24.6 million domestically and closed its nine-week run with $59.1 million domestic and $69.2 million international, a global total of $129 million against a reported $75 million budget. After marketing costs and theater splits, that total left the film short of profitability.

Beyond Hollywood accountancy, Transformers One succeeded because it dropped the sidekick-and-human dynamic that defined the Bay era and set its entire narrative on Cybertron instead, tracking its two leads across the years that turn them into enemies. That structure let Cooley build a real character study out of figures who previously existed only as archetypes in theaters, giving their eventual rivalry emotional weight that the live-action films never earned. Sadly, longtime fans who sat through five Bay-directed sequels and a soft reboot had little reason to expect a seventh trip to the multiplex would finally deliver. That skepticism cost Transformers One the opening weekend it needed, even as reviews told a different story. Even more tragic is that Paramount executives brush over this context, deciding against a proper sequel for Transformers One.

Transformers One is streaming now on Paramount+.

Are you excited to see Transformers Galaxy continue the story Transformers One started? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!