If there's one thing Bumblebee isn't in the Transformers movies, it's a chatterbox. Up until Transformers: The Last Knight, he used the radio to communicate with others, and that'll be the case again in the upcoming Bumblebee movie. However, it turns out that the prequel will have the yellow Autobot speaking normally for a period of time, and he'll be voiced by The Maze Runner star Dylan O'Brien. When asked why O'Brien was cast in the role, Transformers franchise producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura answered:
Dylan has that great quality in his voice of youthful exuberance, and also sort of trustworthiness. I think those are the two qualities that we wanted Bumblebee to have.
Chiefly known for playing Thomas in The Maze Runner trilogy and "Stiles" Stilinski in the Teen Wolf TV series, Dylan O'Brien is the latest actor to be announced for Bumblebee, providing his vocal talents for the popular robot in disguise. Lorenzo di Bonaventura added that the few audiences who have seen Bumblebee so far have reacted positively to O'Brien's Bumblebee voice. As for why Bumblebee is having its eponymous protagonist speak normally (even if it's just for a little bit), di Bonaventura also said the following during his interview with IGN:
Since we were approaching this as an origin story, we felt that it was appropriate that you got to hear his voice. That's the simple logic that we employed. The longer term implication of that is different. But the short-term implication of that is, since we really are resetting the mythology, essentially, of who Bumblebee is. And so, that seemed to us to be the appropriate, to get the chance to hear what he sounds like.
Although Bumblebee's voice was damaged in battle, we still haven't learned the precise circumstances of how this happened, and the Bumblebee previews have shown that his vocal issues will be present when he meets Charlie Watson. Even with Lorenzo di Bonaventura's above statement, it's hard to tell if we'll hear Dylan O'Brien as Bumblebee in a flashback set on Cybertron or if he'll somehow regain the ability to speak while on Earth, and then lose it again later down the line to maintain continuity with the first Transformers movie.
Set in 1987, 20 years before Bumblebee meets Sam Witwicky, the Bumblebee movie follows the main protagonist meeting Hailee Steinfeld's Charlie Watson while he's on an important mission for the Autobots. Unfortunately, Bumblebee and Charlie soon find themselves having to contend with both the mysterious Sector 7 government agency, led by John Cena's Agent Burns, and several Decepticons who followed Bumblebee to Earth to disrupt his mission.
Directed by Travis Knight, Bumblebee hits theaters on December 21. As for what else is coming out in the weeks ahead, check out our holiday premiere guide, or get a head start on next year with our 2019 release schedule.
