Bumblebee’s Recast Continues A Transformers Movie Mistake

Keegan-Michael Key is voicing Bumblebee in the next Transformers movie, Transformers One, which seems like a strange fit, but also misses the option to bring back Dylan O’Brien after he barely voiced B in Bumblebee. Set to be released on September 13, 2024, Transformers One is an animated entry in the Transformers movie franchise that will explore the origins of Cybertron. The story will concern the downfall of Optimus Prime’s friendship with Megatron. It’s being helmed by Josh Cooley, the Oscar-winning director of Toy Story 4, and it’s planned as the first installment of a trilogy.

The star-studded voice cast of Transformers One includes Chris Hemsworth as Optimus Prime, Brian Tyree Henry as Megatron, Scarlett Johansson as Elita-One, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, and Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion. It also includes Key, one half of the renowned sketch comedy duo Key & Peele, in the role of fun-loving Autobot Bumblebee. While Key is a gifted comedian with an unmistakable voice that makes him perfect for animation, he’s an odd casting choice for Bumblebee – especially since the role has already been cast for this franchise.

Transformers One Should Have Brought Back Dylan O’Brien To Voice Bumblebee

There was no need to recast the voice of Bumblebee for the cast of Transformers One. Dylan O’Brien did a great job of bringing the character to life in the Bumblebee movie, despite his very limited dialogue. Bringing him back for an animated film where voice work is everything would’ve been a good way to redeem the restrictions that the Bumblebee spin-off put on his performance. O’Brien’s incarnation of Bumblebee is the most lovable so far, and if he’s not going to get a direct sequel, they should’ve brought him back for the animated movie.

The whole point of assembling a writers’ room to figure out the future of the Transformers franchise was to keep the series’ timeline on track with a single unified continuity. Recasting the role of Bumblebee (and a handful of other Transformers characters) for the animated movie completely misses the point of that writers’ room. They’re supposed to be telling one complete, coherent story, but the only way to do that would be to keep the same voice actor from the Bumblebee movie to play Bumblebee in Transformers One. Otherwise, it still feels like a scattershot franchise.

Dylan O’Brien Is A Better Fit For Bumblebee Than Keegan-Michael Key

The version of Bumblebee introduced in his self-titled spin-off is the car-turned-robot version of E.T. In its tale of the friendship that blossoms between a lonely kid and the alien they discover, Bumblebee essentially tells the same sci-fi coming-of-age story as the Steven Spielberg classic. This created an incarnation of Bumblebee who was naive and immature and reckless. There needs to be a youthful quality in his voice. Key is a brilliant comedic talent and a voice actor worth his weight in gold, but he doesn’t have the youthfulness necessary to portray Bumblebee in the Transformers films. O’Brien, on the other hand, does.