'To punish and enslave.' That's the motto of Decepticon Barricade, who returns in Transformers: The Last Knight under the guise of a police cruiser. This robot in disguise is just the latest character confirmed for the impending sequel, which is shooting right now under the direction of Michael Bay. It was Bay who first shared this image of the mighty Decepticon on his website.
Always the 'bad cop', Barricade was first seen in the original 2007 Transformers movie and went onto appear in the next two sequels, 2009's Revenge of the Fallen and 2011's Dark of the Moon. He wasn't a key player in Age of Extinction, but he did show up in footage from the Barricade at the Battle of Chicago, shown to demonstrate how dangerous these robots are. Barricade is known as a very 'complicated' robot and is notorious for his fractious' attitude, even by Decepticon standards. While he sometimes doesn't get along or agree with his fellow Decepticons, he has never wavered on his stance to 'Kill All Autobots!'
Barricade is the fourth Transformer to be confirmed for Transformers 5. Optimus Prime will return, along with an upgraded BumbleBee. And Megatron is once again the main bad guy. Though, there will be much more nefarious players in the game this time out. The story finds Optimus Prime searching through the cosmos for the Quintessons, the beings believed to be responsible for the creation of the Transformers race. Meanwhile back on Earth, Cade Yeager will be facing a new alien threat while trying to rally the Autobots and their new allies The Dino-Bots. No further details have been released.
On the human side of things, Mark Wahlberg returns to the franchise for a second time after his Cade Yeager was first introduced in Age of Extinction. He will be joined by new female lead Isabela Moner, with Jerrod Carmichael taking on the role of funny sidekick. Josh Duhamel's Lennox will return after sitting out Transformers 4. And it is believed that his partner in crime, Tyrese Gibson, will be back as Epps. There are also rumors floating around that original trilogy star Shia LaBeouf and his one time leading lady Megan Fox could return as well, but that hasn't been confirmed. Michael Bay also recently announced that he has cast Britian's loneliest shelter dog in a key role.
Shooting will take place in Detroit, with various on-location shoots planned to take place throughout the world, such as Cuba. Transformers: The Last Knight is just the second major studio movie to shoot in the country since the U.S. trade embargo was lifted, following Universal's Fast & Furious 8. Michael Bay is directing from a script by Iron Man writers Art Marcum & Matt Holloway. They are joined by Black Hawk Down writer Ken Nolan on the screenplay. The team were part of Paramount's writer's room that generated several ideas for Transformers sequels and spinoffs.
Paramount announced in February that they will release a Bumblebee spinoff, which is set to hit theaters on June 8, 2018. This movie will tell the never before heard origin of Bumblebee, although no specifics have been given. It will then be followed by Transformers 6 and Transformers 7, with as many as three more sequels planned after that. But we'll all have to get through The Last Knight before we can even begin to think about all that. At least the eternally grumpy Barricade will be there to see us through.
