The Dinobots have long ranked among the most popular characters in the Transformers multi-media property (in terms of toy sales alone), following their introduction during the 1980s. Paramount Pictures and director Michael Bay's 2014 film Transformers: Age of Extinction marked the live-action debut for the Dinobots on the big screen - and the characters were featured heavily in the movie's marketing campaign, as a result of their enduring appeal. However, as is common knowledge among Transformers fans, Dinobots like Grimlock were (somewhat infamously) a third act addition in Age of Extinction, first and foremost.
For related reasons, it's expected that the Dinobots would return in a more significant capacity in the next Transformers film directed by Bay, Transformers: The Last Knight, if only because of their unwavering marketability (read: ability to sell tie-in toys and merchandise). We can now confirm that The Last Knight is indeed going to include more robots with dinosaur-esque transformative forms - not to mention, mini-robots with those abilities.
Mark Wahlberg, who is reprising his Age of Extinction role as Cade Yaeger in The Last Knight, confirmed the news during a video Q&A with his Facebook fans, saying:
"[Transformers: The Last Knight] is a cool new story, it's kind of like a man on the run. Sir Anthony Hopkins is also in the film. We got a cool new cast, cool new robots, cool new villains and some cool new Dinobots. I think you guys are really going to go crazy for the Mini-Dinobots."
Some Transformers fans may recall a previous report revealing (alleged) plot points for The Last Knight made mention of both Dinobots and "mini-Dinobots" being in this movie and operating out of the South Dakota badlands. Whether you take Wahlberg's reveal that "Mini-Dinobots" will appear in The Last Knight as partial or full confirmation of the accuracy of those rumors about the movie's storyline, it does suggest the Dinobots in general will be more active participants in the overarching plot in this Transformers installment than they were in Age of Extinction.
Of course, Bay's Transformers movies have always combined more kid-friendly elements with PG-13 level action and subject matter and it sounds as though The Last Knight will be doing the same thing - "Mini-Dinobots" and all. There might yet be Transformers spinoffs on the horizon that are strictly "kids movies" though, starting with the Bumblebee movie in 2018.
NEXT: The Last Knight Set Video Features Sir Anthony Hopkins
Transformers: The Last Knight opens in U.S. theaters on June 23, 2017, followed by the Bumblebee spin-off on June 8, 2018, and Transformers 6 on June 28, 2019.
Source: Mark Wahlberg