On top of hearing news of new actors such as John Malkovich, Frances McDormand and Ken Jeong joining the cast of Transformers 3, we've also been hearing word that familiar faces from the first two films will be returning. Aside from the obvious return of Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, we also learned that army soldiers  Tyrese Gibson and Josh Duhamel will be back.

Now we learn of another super surprising piece of casting news (sarcasm alert!): Kevin Dunn and Julie White, a.k.a. the parents of Sam Witwicky, will be reprising their roles in Transformers 3. Does this mean we'll be getting more stupid humor scenes between them and Sam - moments which were far too prolific in the first two movies? Probably.

The scenes of Sam's parents just clogged up Transformers 1 and 2. I don't know if it's just me, but I really don't get why there are so many of those moments where banter or even physical slapstick (sometimes involving DOGS!) are littered throughout these movies about giant transforming robots...

I guess we can't really be surprised to hear about all of these characters returning for Transformers 3. At least it means fewer new characters for Bay to waste spend time focusing on, instead of actually developing established characters like Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and the rest of the core robots we all want to see. But at the same time, we know we can expect more of the same kind of crappy scenes involving these returning human characters, like the Witwickys.

Kevin Dunn and Julie White return for Transformers 3

Are you glad to see Sam's parents returning for Transformers 3? Do you think it means more of the same tired humor we saw from them in the first two movies?

Transformers 3 will start pre-shoots next month for a release on July 1st, 2011. The studio has been putting pressure on Michael Bay to make the film in 3D but the jury is still out on that.

Source: Variety (via /Film)