‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ producer dishes on the film’s surprisingly sensical Easter egg

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is an absolute nostalgia fest. Of course, the classic Transformers get their time to shine, but this is the first time that the franchise’s Beast Machine era is getting the live-action treatment.

It doesn’t stop there, though — at the end of the film, viewers were surprised to see Noah (Anthony Ramos) approached for recruitment by none other than the G.I. Joe organization. In a recent interview with EW, executive producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explained that this had been in the works for a long time.

He further teased that the franchise would be bringing the Joes into the action moving forward, so fans can expect the Joes, Autobots, and Maximals all together on the big screen:

“We’re introducing Joe characters into the world that we’re dealing with, on whatever our characters are gonna go do. We’re also not through with the Maximals, so I imagine in the next movie we’ll have Maximals, Autobots, and Joes.”

Fans shouldn’t expect to see the origins of the G.I. Joe organization, however. Director Steven Caple Jr., who’s currently working on a Rise of the Beasts sequel, stated, “It is definitely gonna incorporate some Joes characters, but it won’t go into, maybe, the true origins of the Joes.”

Di Bonaventura concurred, stating that bringing the two franchises together was a “daunting” task. He also explained that there have not yet been in-depth conversations about a solo G.I. Joe franchise. The last film to be released under the IP was Snake Eyes, starring Henry Golding, back in 2021. As that film did not perform well at the box office, and Rise of the Beasts is currently set in the ’90s, it’s unlikely the story will continue off of that project.

Caple also expounded on why the G.I. Joe reveal came at the end of the movie, rather than in a post-credit, as might be expected. The answer is simple: Caple felt that the move capped off Noah’s character arc. By the end of the film, the character is now ready to fight in defense of Earth, after having been looked down on throughout the whole film.

With both franchises being juggernauts of the ’80s, it’s no surprise they two groups have crossed over before. In 1987, Marvel actually ran a mini-series which saw the Joes meeting the robots in disguise. Several other stories have followed throughout the years, but this is the first time that the franchises will share a live-action film together – something that fans have been clamoring for since the first Transformers back in 2007.