We as moviegoers have primarily seen the Autobots and Decepticons wage war with one another in the present day, but for the next Transformers installment, the clock is being wound back to 1987. The Bumblebee movie will show what the yellow Autobot was up to more than four decades after World War II (as seen in Transformers: The Last Knight) and 20 years before he became Sam Witwicky's protector. In this adventure, his human companion will be played by The Edge of Seventeen's Hailee Steinfeld, and with the spinoff now in its second week of production, we have our first look at Steinfeld's character showing off her rocking appearance.
Rather than go with the brighter fashion choices of the 1980s, her character, Charlie Watson, has donned a black Motorhead shirt, a pair of knee-torn jeans and simple white and black Nike sneakers. It's simple, but effective. Better yet, it sets her apart from the crowd and shows her to be a no-nonsense, tough girl who dispenses attitude regularly, but also doesn't let anyone mess with her. Or at least that's what I'm guessing based purely off her wardrobe in this photo on Steinfeld's social media accounts. In any case, Charlie looks like she's ready for the action to come when she meets a special transforming car.
Charlie Watson has been described as a tomboy in California who works as a mechanic after school and is trying to find her place in the world. During the Bumblebee movie, she'll stumble upon the eponymous Transformer in a junkyard in his VW Bug form. Once she revives the "battle-scarred and broken" car, she'll have the same reaction that everyone else has upon seeing an automobile turn into a towering alien robot: shock, followed by curiosity. As for why Bumblebee was hiding in that junkyard, all that's been revealed so far is that he's on the run at the start of the movie. Whether he's hightailing it from a Decepticon or a human opponent, we can count on Charlie getting thrown into Bumblebee's messy life and helping him overcome whatever obstacles come his way.
Of course, Hailee Steinfeld is just one of many human characters who is populating the Bumblebee movie. The rest of the main cast includes Jorge Lendeborg Jr, Pamela Adlon, John Cena, Stephen Schneider, Stephen Schneider, Kenneth Choi, Ricardo Hoyos, Abby Quinn, and Rachel Crow. Kubo and the Two Strings' Travis Knight is helming the feature, making him the first person to leave a directorial imprint on this franchise other than Michael Bay. The story was penned by Unforgettable writer Christina Hodson.
The Bumblebee movie rolls into theaters on December 21, 2018.
