‘Transformers’: Writers Joby Harold (‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’) & James Vanderbilt (‘Zodiac’) Enlisted for Two Films

Jan 28, 2020

A little over a year after Travis Knight’s ‘Bumblebee’ hit theaters, Paramount Pictures is now working on not one, but two new ‘Transformers’ films!

According to Deadline, ‘Zodiac’ and ‘Murder Mystery’ screenwriter James Vanderbilt has been working since last April on a film adaptation of the ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’ spinoff series from the 1990’s, while ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’ and ‘Army of the Dead’ scribe Joby Harold is developing another ‘Transformers’ project.

For the uninitiated, ‘Beast Wars’ was a sequel series to the first generation ‘Transformers’ show from the 1980’s and explored the conflict between the descendants of the Autobots and Decepticons; now known as the Maximals and Predacons. Rather than transform into various man-made vehicles like their predecessors, this new generation of characters transformed into various robotic animals such as Optimus Primal (a gorilla) and Cheetor (a cheetah). While this change initially resulted in mixed opinions from the fan base, ‘Beast Wars’ is now seen as one of the most celebrated parts of the franchise’s history.

Moreover, one of the two films will be set in the same universe as ‘Bumblebee,’ though it is unclear if it will be Harold’s film or Vanderbilt’s ‘Beast Wars’ film.

No directors are currently attached to either film, but Deadline did note that both films ‘will feature new casts.

Source: Deadline