Transformers: Rise of the Beasts kills Bumblebee relatively early on in the movie, with the beloved Autobot meeting his maker at the hands of the evil Scourge.
He's eventually restored, of course, but sits out most of the action so the spotlight can be put on the Maximals. Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, director Steven Caple Jr. addressed that decision and whether he faced any pushback from studio execs keen on keeping Bumblebee front and centre.
"There wasn’t pushback, but everyone was nervous," the filmmaker admits. "Bumblebee just had his movie, and I wanted to really dive deeper into Optimus Prime [Peter Cullen]...it gave us permission to go darker with Optimus Prime in a way, because now he felt this burden and that it was his fault."
"And so the last person you’d expect to sacrifice anything for humans would be Optimus Prime, at least in this particular film, and it just helped that Bumblebee had died at the hands of Scourge [Peter Dinklage]. And to be honest with you, [Bumblebee’s death] made room for other characters."
Caple Jr. mentions Bumblebee and fans of the Transformers franchise remain a little confused that the 2018's movie has never received a sequel. It's still the best-reviewed instalment in this series and was a moderate commercial success, and it seems a cameo role for Hailee Steinfeld was considered.
"She was, but not necessarily for Bumblebee’s comeback," he explains. "I think we still have this line in the movie, maybe we don’t, but there’s a moment where Bumblebee says to Prime, 'They are my friends.' And he’s talking about Hailee’s character."
"So they had that conversation, but we went even further with it where Bumblebee actually took out the Polaroid photo of him and Hailee’s character in Bumblebee. She took a selfie of the two of them together, with a Polaroid [camera], and so we actually shot that version. We probably have it in the deleted scenes."
"I like Hailee Steinfeld. She’s a great actress. I have not met her, but the way our movie ends, there’s always possibilities," Caple Jr. continued. "Maybe she’s too busy in the Marvel world, but she’s a wonderful actress and I would definitely love to collaborate with her."
We can only hope Steinfeld returns in the sequel, though there may not be room, particularly with characters from the G.I. Joe franchise expected to appear.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is now playing in theaters.