Two new Transformers movies are in development at Paramount Pictures, which can allow the franchise to reboot in two rather different directions. The studio has long been dead-set on expanding the Transformers series further, going all the way back to March 2015 when Paramount set up a writer's room to come up with ideas for future Transformers sequels and spin-offs. Such an initiative resulted in the creation of Bumblebee, the first live-action Transformers movie set outside of the central Michael Bay-directed series.

The relative box office success of Bumblebee only further bolstered studio interest in making more Transformers spin-offs. Previously, only whispers of other potential ideas for future Transformers movies had emerged, including one set in Ancient Rome, a prospective Optimus Prime spin-off, and a fully-animated feature set on Cybertron. However, this newest development for the series lent some more solid ground for where the Transformers saga is going next.

Related: Why Bumblebee Was A Box Office Success (And The Last Knight Wasn't)

This announcement didn't just limit itself to announcing future Transformers movies, it also carried larger implications for the entire future of the franchise. Specifically, it appears that this pair of new Transformers movies will introduce the concept of multiple continuities to the franchise. It's a bold move that isn't exactly common for blockbusters, which tend to opt for tidier approaches to continuity. However, it appears the Transformers movies aren't looking to play it safe in the near future, as further indicated by what source material being adapted for one of the two movies.

Two Transformers Movies Are in Development

The two Transformers titles that are currently in development are another title set in the Bumblebee continuity and a feature-film adaptation of Beast Wars. It's easy to see where the former title will go given that the 2018 Bumblebee movie ended on a cliffhanger where Bumblebee and Optimus Prime are reunited on Earth and await the arrival of incoming Autobot allies. Presumably, any follow-up to Bumblebee will capitalize on that ending with another story about Bumblebee and other Autobots fighting Decepticons on Earth.

Beast Wars, on the other hand, is much more of a fresh slate, one that would explore vastly new time periods and approaches to robotic transformations than prior Transformers titles. Based on a 1996 CG-animated series that followed the prehistoric battles of the robotic races of Maximals and Predicons, this Transformers series saw the robots changing into animals rather than vehicles. As late as three years ago, the notion of doing a Beast Wars movie was dismissed by prolific creative participants of the live-action Transformers movies. Now it appears to be one of the top priorities for the franchise going forward.

Tackling two sharply different types of titles indicates that the creative team behind the modern Transformers movies is making it a priority for the franchise to show versatility in what kind of stories they tackle. Whereas the earliest Michael Bay Transformers movies all shared a similar kind of loud & brash tone, there's a significantly higher level of variety between a prospective Bumblebee sequel and a prospective Beast Wars movie. Such variation will be aided by another bold element being introduced in future Transformers titles. Specifically, it appears that Transformers will be using these next two films to introduce differing movie continuities.

Related: Transformers Future Explained: What Movies Are In Development

Transformers May Split Into Two Universes

The Autobots assemble on Earth in Transformers

Nestled within the announcement that these two new films were in development were references to each title occupying their own individual continuities. For most franchises, the prospect of expanding into two separate continuities sounds like a recipe for surefire confusion. However, over the last few years, cinematic multiverses have begun to become more and more of a mainstream concept thanks to the likes of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and especially thanks to live-action adaptations of DC Comics properties. While the Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths event arc is a go-to example for multiple continuities existing in harmony in a broadly appealing pop culture property, DC has an even bigger example exclusively rooted in cinema. Specifically, the recent success of Joker showcases that it's possible to juggle numerous universes at once.

Such success is likely giving Paramount and other creative participants in the Transformers movies renewed confidence in the idea of tackling multiple Transformers continuities. This would make a lot of sense for where the Transformers franchise is currently. Bumblebee included a lot of retcons of Michael Bay's movies, and created a number of Transformers plot holes too. Adding Beast Wars into that mix would only confuse things further, whereas this approach allows it to fully stand on its own, unencumbered by what's already been established, while Bumblebee's universe can continue to build on the 2018 movie timeline and continuity.

What The New Transformers Franchise Could Look Like

Hailee Steinfeld and Bee in Bumblebee movie

Plenty of inevitable questions emerge when considering the prospect of having multiple Transformers continuities, including how these individual universes will establish their own aesthetics. On a visual level, it's relatively easy to see how the new Transformers movies could be split up into two factions when Beast Wars and Bumblebee are being used as individual templates. For the Beast Wars franchise, not only would this be animals over vehicles, so already a major difference, but it's possible this would be set in a fully-animated world. While all 21st-century Transformers movies up to this point have been live-action/animation hybrids with an emphasis on Transformers interacting with humans on Earth, those titles were using the 1980s Transformers cartoon as a starting point for their stories. Whereas that program featured humans like Sam Witwicky as lead characters, Beast Wars was a Transformers show that didn't feature any prominent human protagonists or even human characters at all, save for the primate-esque Protohumans.

It's likely a feature film version of Beast Wars would follow suit in entirely eschewing humans, resulting in an animated adaptation as a result. Not only would going the animated route be an appropriate fit for Beast Wars' robots-only approach to storytelling, but it would also be an easy way to differentiate this continuity from the other Transformers movie continuity rooted in the events of Bumblebee. That would likely follow the familiar live-action/CGI mold for its own stories about robots and humans fighting side-by-side in recognizable locations. In addition to offering a sense of visual variety, there's plenty of other upsides to giving the Transformers franchise multiple continuities to work with. For one thing, it offers new filmmakers entering this series a chance to eschew the excessive baggage of prior movies. With brand-new universes to work with, writers & directors can get straight to work on their own standalone stories without having to worry about a laundry list of continuity errors or retcons related to past installments. Even while juggling multiple continuities, it's hard to imagine these new sagas creating anything with mythos more convoluted than the lore established in Transformers: The Last Knight.

Related: How Beast Wars Can Save Transformers (& Fit Into The Movies)

To boot, embracing multiple continuities would allow for future Transformers movies to further embrace their source material like Bumblebee did. The first five live-action Transformers movies had little time for slavish devotion to the mythos established by prior incarnations of these robots in disguise. Part of how Bumblebee attempted to establish itself apart from prior Transformers movies was how it embraced referencing classic Transformers lore. This included use of Generation 1 character designs for the robot characters and making Bumblebee's alternate vehicle mode a VW Bug. It's safe to assume that Bumblebee was no anomaly and that future Transformers movies will carry a similar emphasis on respect for prior versions of the Transformers characters.

Such fidelity to older pieces of media is evident just from the fact that Paramount Pictures is pursuing a feature film adaptation of Beast Wars, a Transformers property that's far from a household name but does resonate deeply with the core fanbase of this franchise. Only time will tell if the manner in which these multiple continuities are actually executed allows these future movies to live up to their potential. However, for the moment, there's plenty of exciting possibilities to be found in the idea of having the Transformers movies tackle multiple continuities at once. There's always been more potential than meets the eye when it comes to this franchise. Having multiple Transformers universes could be an ideal way of tapping into all that potential.

Next: Transformers Movies Ranked From Worst to Best (Including Bumblebee)