New Transformers Film with Peter Cullen’s Final Performance Announced
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Hasbro and Fathom Entertainment have confirmed that Optimus Prime: Awakening, a new 12-minute animated short, will accompany 40th-anniversary 4K screenings of The Transformers: The Movie in cinemas from 17 to 22 September. The short is notable as it preserves what is described as Peter Cullen's final original voice performance as Optimus Prime; Cullen, the actor synonymous with the character for over four decades, died in late August at the age of 80.
The short reunites Cullen with Frank Welker, who returns as both Megatron and Soundwave, and is produced by animation studio The Third Floor, known for its work on Predator: Killer of Killers. Hasbro and Fathom have called the project a "love letter" to the Transformers community and to Cullen, adding that his return meant a great deal to him and that he described it as a "homecoming" to the role. Welker paid tribute to his late friend and co-star in a statement, and tickets for the rerelease, dubbed an "Apology Tour" in reference to the 1986 film's killing off of Optimus Prime, are on sale via Fathom's website.
- New short film preserves Peter Cullen's final Optimus Prime performance
- Accompanies 40th-anniversary 4K screenings, 17–22 September
- Frank Welker returns as Megatron and Soundwave alongside Cullen
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Optimus Prime has been voiced by the same actor, Peter Cullen, in Transformers cartoons and films since 1984, making him one of the most recognisable character voices in animation. Cullen died in late August 2026 at the age of 80. Hasbro, the toy company behind Transformers, and Fathom Entertainment, which organises special cinema screenings, have now announced a short film built around his last performance in the role.
The short, called Optimus Prime: Awakening, will screen alongside cinema re-releases of the original 1986 film The Transformers: The Movie, timed to mark that film's 40th anniversary. That original film is remembered partly for controversially killing off Optimus Prime, which upset many fans at the time, so this new short and re-release are being framed as a way of revisiting that moment. Frank Welker, another long-serving Transformers voice actor, also appears in the new short.
The story matters because it sits at the intersection of a tribute to a late performer and a commercial rerelease, bringing together nostalgia for a decades-old franchise, the end of an era for one of its defining voices, and a studio's efforts to mark the anniversary in cinemas.
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