February 2023 issue of SFX magazine is out today and we picked up a copy to take a look at an exclusive interview with Alan Tudyk for his role as Optimus Prime on Transformers: EarthSpark.
What goes through your head when you learn that you’re going to be part of such a well-known franchise?
I got an email asking if I wanted to do it. I read it and my brain rejected the idea that I would even be asked to play Optimus Prime. I read it as Prime. I saw Prime and I was like, “Oh, right. There are other Primes.” Because I did [2011 live action film] Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, and there was another Prime [Sentinel]. There was Optimus and then this other guy showed up.
It was like one of the original Primes and so I thought I was like Optometrist Prime or some other, you know, Amazon Prime. I was like, “Cool. I’ll be talking about Transformers. I’ll probably have like two lines an episode and I get to do this cool thing.” It wasn’t until just a few days before I ever had to record that I started working on it and saw that all the lines in the script that were highlighted were Optimus, and I freaked out.
Why?
Like, there’s no way! [Laughs] What are you talking about? I’m more like Uncomfortable Prime, I shouldn’t be… That’s usually my characters that I play: Indecision Prime, left or right? We really had a blast, I came in and worked on it, and we had a really good time. The first time I got to say “Autobots, roll out,” I got chills, literally chills. And then they turned up the heat. And then we continued the session.
What’s been your main take-away for your character?
I would say it’s just so much fun. I love this new iteration; there’s areas of grey here because it’s now after the war, and Megatron and Optimus Prime are working together, but it’s not clean-cut. Some of the Decepticons are still fighting this war, so they’ll capture them and it’s like, “Are they your enemies? Are they your friends? You’re all part of the same species. So what is it?” There’s a question there. It’s about looking after ourselves as a species, which is a good message at any time in history, but working together for the common good.
I also took away how cool the animation has become. From when you first watched it to now, this big animation is so cool, it looks really, really good. It’s very entertaining, there’s a lot to it. There’s a story family, a lot of that part of the story, but then there’s also some really great action.
You can read the rest of the interview on SFX Magazine – February 2023.
