Transformers 7 casts Hellboy star Ron Perlman to voice Optimus Primal. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is the official title of the seventh entry in the blockbuster movie franchise.
That title in fact gives a big hint about the direction the Transformers series is going in the newest film. Released in 1996, the animated show Beast Wars: Transformers introduced evolved future versions of the Autobots and Decepticons. Those animated characters, including future “beast mode” Transformer Optimus Primal, will arrive in live-action form in Rise of the Beasts alongside classic transforming robots like the original Optimus Prime. Steven Caple Jr. takes the directorial reins on Transformers 7, guiding a cast that includes Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback and Luna Lauren Velez. Peter Cullen will return to voice Optimus Prime.
Collider reports that Rise of the Beasts has now tapped Perlman to join the movie’s growing cast, voicing Optimus Prime’s Beast Wars descendant. Garry Chalk voiced the character in the original Beast Wars show, but Perlman did the honors in the later Transformers: Power of the Primes series.
Perlman is probably best known to genre movie fans for playing Hellboy in the original Guillermo Del Toro movies. His incredibly long list of credits is also highlighted by his lead role on the ‘80’s TV series Beauty and the Beast and his major role in the FX show Sons of Anarchy. With his distinctive gravelly voice, it’s no surprise that Perlman has also done a lot of vocal work in his career. His voice-only roles include Mangiafuoco in the upcoming stop-motion Pinocchio, Bular on Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia, The Lich on Adventure Time, Ramon Limon on Archer, Gha Nachkt on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Vice Principal Lancer on Danny Phantom, Slade on Teen Titans and many more. Perlman has also added his vocal talents to numerous video games over the years, including entries in the Halo, Fallout, Call of Duty and Turok franchises.
Perlman’s return to voice Optimus Primal in Rise of the Beasts first and foremost represents a solid nod to the animated Beast Wars. This tip of the cap should actually come as no surprise as director Caple has professed he’s a Beast Wars fan. Even as it's honoring the franchise’s past, Transformers 7 should offer plenty of new twists on the movie series’ formula as it tells a story set in 1994 in Brooklyn and in Peru. The Peru scenes should be of particular interest as they will reportedly delve into some kind of connection between the Inca and the Transformers. The franchise of course already changed things up once with 2018’s Bumblebee, which proved to be a refreshing switch from the Michael Bay era. It remains to be seen exactly how Beast Wars lore will be handled by Caple and company in Transformers 7, but having Perlman on board as Optimus Primal is a big step toward making things awesome.
Source: Collider
