Dwayne Johnson To Save Transformers Next
Dwayne Johnson might be more than meets the eye.
This article is more than 2 years old
Dwayne Johnson is one of the most powerful and beloved blockbuster stars in recent years. And if a new rumor is true, he could be bringing his charisma and star power to one of the biggest franchises of the last decade: Transformers.
The supposed scoop says that Paramount is trying to court Dwayne Johnson for one of the many Transformers projects that are in development. The franchise is currently on hiatus after Bumblebee – which was actually the best film in the entire Transformers series – and rumors have abounded about what direction the movies are planning to take. It sounds like there are more than a few options on the table.
Exactly what role would Dwayne Johnson play in a potential Transformers movie? Would he be fulfilling a similar role as former series actors Mark Wahlberg and John Cena? Essentially, Johnson would play the action hero lead but would also act as a secondary protagonist to either some robots or a younger star? Or would Johnson’s presence dictate that the movie would feature the superstar even more prominently? If you have The Rock in your movie, you definitely want to put him in the spotlight.
Whatever is happening with a potential infusion of Dwayne Johnson into the Transformers series, it seems obvious that the franchise is going to have to deliver something very new after the Michael Bay series. Bumblebee actually did an excellent job of doing just this, and it would be great to see director Travis Knight return to the series in some significant capacity. That movie felt like a good continuation of the regular Transformers series while also carving out its own niche in regards to tone and filmmaking style.
It would be great to see Dwayne Johnson bring his particular brand of fun to the Transformers series. The majority of the franchise seems to take itself so seriously, and the injection of a more tonally cartoony entry with Johnson in the lead could help bring some needed levity to the series. This is a story that centers around giant robots turning into vehicles. It seems like it might be a good idea to take things a little less seriously moving forward.
Another idea might be to eliminate outright human characters. One of the many potential Transformers projects in development right now would be based on the animated series, Beast Wars: Transformers. Riffing on this excellent animated series could be an opportunity to make a movie featuring only robots as main characters. Could Dwayne Johnson be the lead character in this kind of project? In all honesty, he could bring some necessary gravitas and heroism to the lead character, Optimus Primal. Now that sounds like an awesome idea!
As always, we want to clarify that this is all speculation and rumor at this point. There has been no official confirmation that Dwayne Johnson has signed on for any Transformers project. If we do hear anything official, we will be sure to immediately report it to you. We might spend the rest of our day watching Beast Wars: Transformers episodes.
