Anthony Breznican at Entertainment Weekly is running his latest exclusive for Travis Knight’s upcoming Hasbro treatment, Bumblebee. The photo above marks the first reveal of two Decepticon characters in the form of Shatter, a cherry-red Plymouth Satellite (voiced by Black Panther co-star Angela Bassett), and Dropkick, a blue AMC Javelin, (voiced by Justin Theroux).
On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary, yellow VW bug.
Knight spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the characters and their respective personalities:
“When the cast is too big, and you have a finite amount of time, there’s only so much you can do to create an investment in them,” Knight says. “This is a more personal, intimate, and character-driven story, so it felt right to keep the villain plot relatively simple and contained. If you keep things lean, you can add a lot of other stuff on top of it that makes it more enjoyable.”
Ms. Bassett and Theroux join the current cast that lists lead actress, Ms. Steinfeld, with actors John Cena, Pamela Adlon, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Stephen Scneider, Kenneth Choi, Jason Drucker, Ricardo Hoyos, Abby Quinn, Rachel Crow and Grace Dzienny for a December 21 release.
Read more at EW.