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Transformers 7 is called Rise of the Beasts, entering beast mode in 2022

The Maximals, Predacons and Terrorcons roar onto the big screen.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Transformers Beast Wars comic
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Transformers Beast Wars comic

The Beast Wars line of Transformers, as seen in a 2021 comic series.

IDW Comics

The next Transformers movie will be set in the 1990s and introduces new robots based on the Beast Wars cartoon. It's called Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and it's coming out June 24, 2022.

Steven Caple Jr. takes over from Michael Bay as director, although Bay is one of the producers. The cast is headlined by Anthony Ramos, star of Hamilton and this month's In The Heights, alongside Dominique Fishback from Judas and the Black Messiah. Filming is reported to have begun this month in LA.

Rise of the Beasts marks a big-screen debut for the Maximals, Predacons and Terrorcons. They featured in the Beast Wars cartoon and toy line in the late 1990s and were a future evolution of the Autobots and Decepticons. Led by Optimus Primal -- see what they did there? -- these robots could turn into animals, if you hadn't figured that out from the name.

The most recent Transformers movie was 2018's delightful spinoff Bumblebee, set in the 1980s, and before that Bay's last film in the series was 2017's Transformers: The Last Knight.

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