2014's Transformers: Age of Extinction was both one of the biggest and most derided films of its release year. While it was still the usual blend of mindless action and ridiculous humor, it did manage to throw in some ingredients that worked. Most impressively, the casting of Stanley Tucci as mild villain turned good guy Joshua Joyce really helped inject some genuine humor into the over-stuffed film, while reminding the world just how great a talent the actor truly is. Thankfully, for those who aren't looking forward to slogging through Transformers: The Last Knight, Tucci will be returning to make the journey a little more bearable.
This news came out of a career tribute event Tucci was attending this weekend in France, and Variety picked up on the fact that the Academy Award nominee had confirmed that he would be back for the fifth installment in Michael Bay's Transformers series. No other details were given dealing with the return of Joshua Joyce, but Stanley Tucci will be joining Mark Wahlberg and Josh Duhmael as a returning cast member, as well as new additions Isabela Moner and Sir Anthony Hopkins. But just because new details aren't available doesn't mean we can't speculate, and considering the Transformers precedent of John Turturro's Agent Simmons character, we have a real good idea where things are going from here.
Much like Stanely Tucci's Joshua, Turturro's Agent Simmons was considered one of the mild human antagonists in the world of Shia LaBoeuf's Sam. While the first film saw Simmons as a flat out baddie, the following two films saw him turn into a force for good, ensuring that the talented actor would be around for a couple more films, as well as providing a source of comic relief throughout said films. Needless to say, it wouldn't be a stretch to see Tucci's character following that same pattern, turning Joshua Joyce into one of the good guys. Though we'll be expecting Mr. Joyce to be as hysterically useless as he was in Transformers: Age of Extinction.
All of this talk about Transformers: The Last Knight bringing back previous cast members has us thinking about other figures we'd love to see return. If only Titus Welliver's heavy James Savoy hadn't been punted out a window by Mark Wahlberg, as we would have loved to had seen him come back and spout some more one-liners while threatening our heroes. Though invoking John Turturro's name does have us wish he'd show up in the Transformers universe again, especially considering how Agent Simmons and Frances McDormand's Mearing got kind of cozy at the end of Dark of The Moon.
At the very least, Stanley Tucci's return to the Transformers fold is nothing short of good news for the fifth film's production, and we look forward to seeing how his character is used in the future. In the meantime, Transformers: The Last Knight smashes into theaters on June 23rd, 2017, so any last minute cameo bookings should probably happen in the next couple of months. Just putting it out there.
