Earlier this year, the Transformers film series resumed with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which followed five years after Bumblebee. However, aside from the mere inclusion of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, along with an indirect mention of Hailee Steinfeld’s Charlie Watson, Rise of the Beasts wasn’t connected to the 2018 spinoff; one could walk into this 2023 new movie release and easily follow along without knowing anything about the yellow Autobot’s adventure with Charlie in 1987. So will Bumblebee ever get a proper sequel? Steinfeld offered her thoughts on the subject.
The actress, who’s other major credits include True Grit, The Edge of Seventeen, Hawkeye and Dickinson, briefly discussed Bumblebee while chatting with THR about her newest movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which sees her reprising Gwen Stacy, the Spider-Woman of Earth-65. When Steinfeld was asked if she was surprised that a direct sequel wasn’t made for Bumblebee considering it’s the best-reviewed movie in the Transformers franchise, she answered:
Not necessarily. I don't know that I knew the plans beyond that, but I like to take everything one step at a time. I've gotten a lot better at that in my life. I tend to get ahead of myself, and so when it comes to these bigger projects that have whispers and more of a future and whatnot, I like to just focus on what's in front of me and make that the best that I can.
Shortly after Bumblebee’s release, director Travis Knight shared that he had ideas for a sequel if he was able to make it, and in late January 2019, Bumblebee 2 was reported to be in development. Hailee Steinfeld also said earlier that same month that she’d be game to do another Bumblebee movie since she felt that Charlie “got so much to say, a lot more to learn and a long way to go.” But as she laid out with this latest statement, it’s not as though Steinfeld was expecting to work on Bumblebee 2, because with the way she works, she prefers to live in the moment rather than dedicate a lot of thought to upcoming/prospective projects.
Ultimately Paramount Pictures deciding to resume the main Transformers film series after Bumblebee rather than continue that spinoff’s story, although rather than returning to the present day, i.e. post-The Last Knight, Rise of the Beasts was set in 1994. At this point, it seems unlikely that Bumblebee 2 will ever get off the ground, but that’s not to say that Steinfeld couldn’t still reprise Charlie Watson someday. If the next live-action Transformers movie is set post-Rise of the Beasts, but pre-2007’s Transformers, perhaps that could be a platform to see how a Charlie in her late 20s or early 30s is doing.
In addition to Paramount announcing back in early 2022 that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts would be the first of three new installments in the franchise, the ending laid the groundwork for a crossover with G.I. Joe. That said, it hasn’t been officially clarified yet what’s up next on the live-action Transformers front. Instead, this continuity is pivoting to animation with Transformers: One, which will explore the origins of the robots in disguise, including Optimus Prime and Megatron’s relationship, on Cybertron.
If you missed seeing Transformers: Rise of the Beasts in theaters, it, along with Bumblebee and the other live-action movies, can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription. Transformers: One is slated on the 2024 movie release schedule for September 13.
