The upcoming Transformers spinoff, Bumblebee, has been flying a little under the radar compared to some of the other splashy December tentpoles. But under the radar or not, the Transformers movies always have a way of getting booties in theater seats, and Bumblebee should be no different, especially considering the new revelation we recently learned about the movie.

As IGN reports, the normally non-verbal Transformer is set to have a voice in his prequel movie. The actor tapped for the role might surprise you, however. So who is it? The Maze Runner franchise’s Dylan O’Brien as it turns out. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explained that while the choice may seem unconventional, O’Brien perfectly captured the tone they were striving for with the character. “Dylan has that great quality in his voice of youthful exuberance, and also sort of trustworthiness,” he explained. “I think those are the two qualities that we wanted Bumblebee to have.”

According to Bonaventura, the response from test screenings has confirmed they made the right choice in tapping the former Teen Wolf star to voice the young Autobot. It’s a positive reaction to what was a risky move – not in O’Brien providing the voice, but in giving Bumblebee a voice at all. To this point in the Transformers franchise, the buttercup yellow robot has merely communicated through a series of beeps and whistles rather than any spoken words, thanks to a damaged voice box. Let’s face it, fans can be a bit touchy when it comes to drastic changes being made to any character they feel a connection to, so deciding to give Bumblebee a voice was a fairly bold choice.

Still, they were confident it was the right one. After five movies, it was time to let Bumblebee speak:

“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.”

The prequel, which is directed by Travis Knight, will be set in the ’80s and will follow the young and untested Autobot during a mission to Earth in the midst of the war between his fellow Autobots and the Decepticons. Hailee Steinfeld will play Charlie, the girl he befriends when she unknowingly buys her first car and it turns out to be a Bumblebee in disguise. Naturally, their foes will be two of the evil Decepticons, Shatter (Angela Bassett) and Dropkick (Justin Theroux). The events in the movie will shape Bumblebee forever. Will we see the moment he loses his voice in the movie? We’ll find out when Bumblebee hits theaters on December 21st.

You can pre-order your tickets for Bumblebee here.

(Header image: Paramount)

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