WhyTransformers OneIs ‘Full Circle’ for Keegan-Michael Key: 1980s Series ‘Was Almost a Religious Experience’ (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Keegan-Michael Key.Photo:Arturo Holmes/WireImage

Arturo Holmes/WireImage

Keegan-Michael Keygets in touch with his “inner child” whenever doing voiceover work — butTransformers Onewas on another level.

“This movie was a full circle moment for me,” the actor, 53 tells PEOPLE of the newanimated prequel, “because I really am a fan from childhood of the original cartoon people my age watched in the ’80s.”

TheTransformersanimated series launched a decades-long toy and movie empire when it captured kids’ imaginations in 1984. As Key notes, “the fact that there were action figures and toys that did the things that the characters did was ingenious.”

Also, he adds, when growing up in Michigan, “I wanted those toys so badly, I wanted all of them. And I probably got two total in my whole life!”

‘Transformers One’.Paramount Pictures / Courtesy Everett

Paramount Pictures / Courtesy Everett

Key recalls that as a kid he used to “come home from school and turn on the television, and it was almost a religious experience for me to be able to watchTransformers. I’d sit there and sing the theme song at the beginning and then just jump into the adventure.”

So voicing B-127 — the early incarnation of beloved yellow bot Bumblebee — inTransformers Onewas a dream come true for theKey & PeeleEmmy winner. AlongsideChris Hemsworthas Orion Pax a.k.a Optimus Prime,Brian Tyree Henryas D-16 a.k.a. Megatron,Scarlett Johanssonas Elita-1 and more, Key was more than just “a fan” of the Josh Cooley-directed prequel.

(Left-right:) Keegan-Michael Key, Brian Tyree Henry and Chris Hemsworth at San Diego Comic-Con on July 25.Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

“I absolutely adore it,” he says, “and I’m a sucker for an origin story. This is one I’ve wanted to see for a long time because of the world-building.”

“You always kind of take for granted, ‘Oh, Optimus Prime, Megatron, they’re mortal enemies, blah, blah, blah,’” says Key. “To be able to find out where it all started and where it all comes from — it’s thrilling.”

‘Transformers One’.Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

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Bumblebee is just the latest in a growing list of Key’s voiceover roles, including in the hit moviesToy Story 4, The Lion King, Wendell & WildandThe Super Mario Bros. Movie. For a classically trained actor who got his breakout in sketch comedy, that’s no coincidence, he says. “It’s one of my favorite things to do in the industry, to really give over to a character.”

Transformers Oneis now in theaters.

For more on Key, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribehere.

source: people.com