Transformers: Wassung on Cullen's "Optimus Prime: Awakening" Goodbye

Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: transformers

Transformers: Wassung on Cullen's "Optimus Prime: Awakening" Goodbye

Optimus Prime: Awakening director Josh Wassung on working with the late Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime) on what would be his final performance.

Published Thu, 24 Sep 2026 11:37:08 -0500
by Tom Chang
|
Comments

Article Summary

• Transformers: Optimus Prime: Awakening director Josh Wassung reveals how Hasbro tapped him for the 40th anniversary short.
• Wassung explains blending classic Transformers animation influences with a modern, handcrafted visual style.
• Josh Wassung recalls directing Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, calling Cullen’s Optimus Prime voice instantly chilling.
• After Peter Cullen’s death, Wassung says Transformers: Optimus Prime: Awakening now feels like a moving goodbye.

When Josh Wassung was selected by Hasbro to direct the short Optimus Prime: Awakening to complement the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie (1986), it was a chance to work with two legends: the late Peter Cullen, who voiced the titular character and the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, and Frank Welker, who voiced his archenemy and leader of the Decepticons, Megatron. It would certainly overwhelm any fan who grew up on The Transformers franchise. Speaking with Collider about the short, Wassung broke down how Predator: Killer of Killers landed him a call from the toy conglomerate, directed Cullen and Welker, and reflected on how the short felt like a "goodbye."

Optimus Prime: Awakening Director Josh Wassung on Living His Transformers Dream, Cullen & More

Wassung remembers the call he got from Hasbro, "Yeah. We were on a Zoom, and they were like, 'Hey, there's this really cool project. Would you be interested?' That's kind of how it happened. I don't know how else to explain it. I mean, it helps that 'Predator' was pretty cool." As far as the details, "The script that Ryan [Parrott] had written was already super cool. I think it was really just asking us how quickly for myself to direct, but also my studio to do the animation. So we had to kind of analyze what kind of resources we could pull together, and how quickly we could turn this around. Because we knew the clock was ticking to get this ready for the anniversary. I think that was December, so just thinking about ideas of how to achieve it and started talking with Hasbro about what kind of approach we want? How do we want to honor the original style? How do we want to bring it into something more modern? How to blend those things. And then before we know it, January, we started production."

As far as balancing between his style and honoring the 1980s original series, "It was really important for us to honor the original. We worked really hard to bring a little bit of a handcrafted styling," Wassung said. "It was all made by hand. There's line work, there's color. We were really going back to the original art. We looked at original matte paintings from the pilot episode of the series, but also paintings from the movie, and we really analyzed, zooming way in and analyzing the brushstrokes, analyzing the colors. We have an amazing art director, Ed, and the previs team all were kind of working together. Shout out to the previs team, who's here in the house. They all worked together, and we really just broke down how was this movie made with a 2D hand-drawn technique? And how can we emulate that hand-drawn feeling, but also pulling from those original colors and kind of just dialing it up to make it a bit more vibrant, and just embrace that style?"

When it came to directing Cullen, "Getting to meet Peter was a wild, full-circle experience, of course, because, just like everybody here, growing up hearing his voice over and over and over again, and then seeing him, also, in the movies, everything, for my entire life, really. And then getting to meet him, immediately he's a jokester, and he's just immediately cracking jokes and telling stories,' Wassung said. "But what was amazing was he's lived a full life. He was 85 when I met him, and he looked and sounded like an 85-year-old. And then he sat in that sound booth, and he was like, 'Sound check, sound check,' and then he just turns it on, and it's like you get chills. He sounds like a totally different human. It just turns on. It comes out of him, even at 85. It was very inspiring."

Since Cullen's passing on August 26th, Wassung had a chance to reflect, "Yeah. It was very heavy to hear of his passing, and immediately I go to — without going into spoilers — him walking into the light. There's such an emotional moment that we put into the performance. By the way, shout out to Jarret (LeMaster), the voice of Bumblebee. He did such a great job. He brought such emotion in this emotional goodbye," he said. "It just felt like immediately, it's almost like this short was designed as a goodbye, but we didn't know at the time, you know? So there was definitely a sense of almost like the future is foretold. There's something very, very moving about it. I'm just so grateful that he was able to participate."

For more on directing the Optimus and Megatron fight, Cullen and Welker, Easter eggs, Star Trek, Predator, and more, you can check out the entire interview. The 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie is available through October 7th on Fathom Events.

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!