The Big Picture

Voicing a younger Bumblebee, Keegan-Michael Key’s role in
Transformers One
adds a fresh layer to the franchise
Keegan-Michael Key loves animation, as it allows him to ham it up.
Key teases a potential
Transformers
trilogy, hoping for deeper exploration of the Cybertron to Earth journey.

Keegan-Michael Key is no stranger to voicing legendary characters. From Toad in The Super Mario Bros. Movie to Kamari in The Lion King, he’s a pro at bringing beloved childhood icons to the screen. Key’s newest project will follow this trend, as he voices a younger, chattier Bumblebee in Transformers One, which serves as a prequel to the other films and is the first animated project since the ‘80s cartoon.

The film centers around Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron’s (Brian Tyree Henry) friendship before they ultimately become the enemies we know them to be. During the film’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Key teased that Bumblebee will be playing third wheel, attempting to force himself into the dynamic like a “metal wedge.”

Collider got the chance to speak with Key about his role, where he revealed his hopes for the potential trilogy, what keeps him coming back to animation, and what he would like his Transformer name to be.

Keegan-Michael Key Reveals What His Transformer Name Would Be

COLLIDER: Obviously, your character in the trailer pitches the name “Badassatron,” which I love. I’m curious what you would pitch your own name to be, keeping in mind that you would like to turn into a boat, as you mentioned during the panel.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: I did mention that I would like to be a boat, and I should clarify, like a motorboat, you know what I mean? A cool motorboat. A Miami Vice motorboat. I could do boat races in the bay — that kind of thing. I guess, if it was just for me, myself, and I, I think I’m just going to go with the good, old-fashioned KMK 3000. Or [does deep Transformers voice] KMK 3000. I’ve got good initials, so you want to use those initials.

Mine’s TAG.

KEY: Oh, that’s good! That’s good.

Right? We could work with that.

Keegan-Michael Key Loves Working in Animation for This Reason

You’ve obviously done a lot of very popular animated children’s films — the Mario movie was huge. What keeps you coming back to that genre?

KEY: I’m a ham, and one of the only occasions in our industry when you can overact is in animation. That’s how I feel. Because you’re bringing to life an exaggerated character, always — even when you try to make a character look as human as possible, that animation element is present. It’s otherworldly, so you always can bring 150% to a role, whereas if you’re doing a live-action role, you need to pull it back here, be subtle there. Here, you can always be no-holds-barred, and that’s fun for me.

Keegan-Michael Key Wants to Explore This in Future ‘Transformers’ Movies
Image via Paramount Pictures

I feel like people are going to absolutely love this movie. I know it’s been teased that perhaps we could have a trilogy of sorts.

KEY: Oh god, that would be amaze-balls.

What would you like to see if we were to get two other movies for Bumblebee?

KEY: This would be like in Transformers Three, but a longer explanation of what it was like to travel from Cybertron to Earth. I want to elongate that a little bit, and I understand the saga of the war between the Decepticons and the Autobots — I want to see that, too — but the travel of getting to Earth, there could be a story in there, too.

Like a road trip movie.

KEY: Like kind of a Battleship Galactica…battleship. Battlestar Galactica thing.

We’ve got the ships in mind right now.

KEY: Exactly. Ships, boats, motorboats. [Laughs]

Thank you so much for talking with me.

KEY: Thanks, TAG.

Transformers One hits theaters September 20th.