Transformers One Trailer Debuts Chris Hemsworth's Optimus Prime In Animated Origin Story

The "Transformers" film franchise has featured a great many giant robot battles, but the last two movies in the series, 2018's "Bumblebee" and 2023's "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts," took things to a new level. The former ushered in a calmer vibe and an aesthetic that's surprisingly faithful to the original "Transformers" robot designs. Meanwhile, the latter introduced important "Transformers: Beast Wars" factions — the Maximals and the Terrorcons — as well as the giant planet eater Unicron (Colman Domingo). Perhaps most importantly, both movies' events take place before the first Michael Bay "Transformers" movie. 

"Transformers One" continues this prequel trend by taking things even further back in time — to the days when the main players were still living on their native Cybertron. It also introduces a brand new voice cast that features Chris Hemsworth as young Optimus Prime and Brian Tyree Henry as the future Decepticon leader Megatron. All of this suggests a movie that shows how the Autobots and the Decepticons started their long-time animosity ... and the new trailer for "Transformers One" offers a sample of this origin story.

Throughout their ever-expanding movie franchise, the Autobot heroes and Decepticon villains of "Transformers" have fought all over Earth ... which, of course, has never really been their home turf. Sure, fans have seen the robots' home planet Cybertron before, but while something like "Bumblebee's" flashback scene on the planet focused strictly on warfare, "Transformers One" provides a different angle by focusing on the early years of Optimus Prime and Megatron. Franchise mascot Bumblebee (Keegan-Michael Key) returns as well, and a number of other Transformer characters with big-name voice actors — like Alpha Trion (Laurence Fishburne), Elita (Scarlett Johansson), and Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm) — also figure in the plot. 

The origin story premise of "Transformers One" might seem somewhat more mellow than the metal-crushing chaos the franchise is known for, but judging by the trailer, "Transformers" fans will definitely get their money's worth of robot action. Megatron's absence in "Rise of the Beasts" and "Bumblebee" also means that "Transformers One" marks the villain's debut in the newer "Transformers" films with classic robot designs, so viewers may very well be interested to witness the character's return to the spotlight.