The ‘Bumblebee’ Spinoff Will Be Set in the 1980s, With ‘Fewer’ Transformers
Transformers: The Last Knight probably won’t be the end of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies, and the series seems to be expanding, whether the people want it to or not. There’s a planned Bumblebee spinoff in the works, which will focus on the smallest of the Autobots before the events of the main Transformers series. Since we’re going back into the past with this, and since Hasbro’s Transformers toys first hit the market 30 years ago, it seems fitting that the Bumblebee movie is going to be set in the 1980s.
Empire Magazine ran an in-depth article on the Transformers universe writers room, and the folks at Transformers 2005 were kind enough to put up some scans. There’s a lot in there about the birth of the Transformers filmic universe and its future, including a few small details about the Bumblebee movie.
Set in the 1980s, it will feature considerably fewer Transformers, concentrating on the big, yellow star […] and likely pitching a little younger, tonally.
The ’80s setting may mean that the little yellow Autobot will go back to his original lemon-colored Volkswagen Beetle form that Bay updated to a black-and-yellow Camaro for the 2007 Transformers. It’s probably a smart move to focus this movie on younger audiences, since Bumblebee is the most accessible of the Transformers characters (though my favorite has always been Starscream, but that’s a whole other article). We don’t know the exact plot or whether Bee will be able to talk, but we do know that Hailee Steinfeld has been in talks for the film.