“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is a sequel to the 2018 “Bumblebee” movie, which was set in Brooklyn, New York in 1994. This new installment of the Transformers is inspired by the cartoon Beast Wars storyline from the 1990s. The movie will introduce new Transformers as well as keep some classic characters like Bumblebee and Optimus Prime; however, only glimpses of the Beast Wars characters were shown in the trailer.

The bad guys of the movie are the Decepticons yet again, but the trailer hints at an additional antagonist not yet known to the public. So far the premise is that there is a new energy source that the Decepticons are trying to locate so they can use it to take over Earth with machines. It will be up to the Autobots to stop the Decepticons. 

I feel like this installment doesn’t follow Michael Bay’s, the original director of the Transformers franchise, story that he set up. In his story, Optimus didn’t arrive until later in the first movie, but, because this is a soft reboot, Optimus was in “Bumblebee” and the franchise will now start from here instead of where Bay started his franchise.

Checkout the trailer here.