Two more names have been added to Paramount Pictures’ planned Transformers writers room as Deadline reports that Black Hawk Down scribe Ken Nolan will join “Black List” screenwriter Geneva Robertson-Dworet in the studio’s new approach to the franchise. The room, which is set to begin work on Monday, is designed to serve as a franchise braintrust and has Academy Award winner Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend, A Beautiful Mind) leading the charge and a roster that also includes “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible” creator Robert Kirkman, the Iron Man writing pair of Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, “Fringe” and “Lost” scribe Jeff Pinkner, X-Men: The Last Stand and The Incredible Hulk‘s Zak Penn, Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari, who did production re-writes on Marvel’s upcoming Ant-Man, repeat “Black List” scribe Christina Hodson, and Lindsey Beer, a science major at Stanford, who has written original specs in the sci-fi and fantasy genre.
“We’ve got a work space that is beautifully production designed to be immersive with a strong sense of the franchise history,” Goldsman tells Deadline. “We will look at the toys, the TV shows, the merchandise, everything that has been generated by Hasbro, from popular to forgotten iterations, and establish a mythological time line. It has been designed with a lot of visual help, toys, robots, sketches and writers and artists. After that super saturation, the writers will figure out not one, but numerous films that will extend the universe… If one of the writers discovers an affinity for ‘Beast Wars,’ they can drive forward on treatments that will have been fleshed out by the whole room.”
A potential Beast Wars film isn’t the only title that has been name-dropped recently. Last week, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner hinted that a spinoff film following Bumblebee may be in the cards. It has also been reported that another possible feature is Transformers One, a prequel film set on the planet Cybertron, briefly seen in the first film of the series.
“The whole process of the story room was really delightful,” Goldsman continues, “and we are seeing it more in movies as this moves toward serialized storytelling. There are good rooms around town, including the Monsters Room at Universal, the Star Wars room, and of course, at Marvel. We’re trying to beg, borrow and steal from the best of them, and gathered a group of folks interested in developing and broadening this franchise.”
Last year, Paramount released the franchise’s fourth film, Transformers: Age of Extinction, starring Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor. When asked if he’d be back for a sequel, Wahlberg previously stated that he’s contracted for “a couple more.” It is also believed that Bay himself will return to helm Transformers 5 after he completes work on his Benghazi drama 13 Hours. Recent reports have also connected Bay to the science fiction novel adaptation Time Salvager. It remains to be seen how many directing projects Bay can fit into his busy schedule.
Age of Extinction grossed over $1 billion at the global box office with all four films combined grossing over $3.7 billion.
