Chris Hemsworth's Kids Were His 'Consultants' on Animated Transformers One (Exclusive)

Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry are the new faces — or, rather, voices — of Optimus Prime and Megatron.

At this year's San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, July 25, they and costar Keegan-Michael Key gave fans a taste of the upcoming Transformers One.Along with Scarlett Johansson, Jon Hamm, Laurence Fishburne and more, the actors are bringing the Autobots back to the big screen in Paramount Pictures' animated origin story (in theaters Sept. 20).

When offered the role of Orion Pax a.k.a. Optimus Prime, Hemsworth, 40, tells PEOPLE he consulted three trusted advisors: his kids. "I had gone to my kids and said, 'What do you think?' And they said, 'You have to do it.' "

In his first major voice role, Hemsworth takes over as the future leader of the Autobots from iconic voice actor Peter Cullen, whose work has been synonymous with the heroic character since Transformers’ original 1980s animated series.

As fans of the franchise, "consultants" India Rose, Sasha and Tristan "played a big part," Hemsworth says, in his decision to join the Josh Cooley-directed prequel — and then in the voiceover booth itself. "They were in the background as I was recording a lot of these lines. They were kind of yelling suggestions or trying to distract me. It was cool."

Henry 42, and Key, 53, joined Hemsworth, Cooley and Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura at their Hall H Comic-Con panel. Each discussed their personal connection to the decades-spanning franchise, with Key recalling "coming home from school and pleading with my mother" to watch the animated series. 

"I've never done a movie about something I enjoyed in my childhood," the Key & Peele star tells PEOPLE. "So this was a real treat, an absolute treat, full circle."

Jennifer Lopez Back in N.Y.C. Following ,...

>

"The fact that I get to play Megatron is not lost on me," says Henry. "I grew up with a lot of cartoons that didn't really reflect me... Not a lot of cartoons, not a lot of fantasy really included us. So to be able to come sit in Hall H, and watch these young Black and brown kids look up there and seeing such an iconic character played by me, is very important."

In April, Hemsworth and Henry unveiled the movie's trailer —via outer space. A live-streamed countdown shared on Paramount Pictures’ YouTube channel led to a rocket launch, which reached a peak at 125,000 feet above Earth after an hour and broadcast the trailer.

The glimpses so far of the highly anticipated installment in the Transformers franchise show “how the most iconic characters in the Transformers universe, Orion Pax and D-16, went from brothers-in-arms to become sworn enemies, Optimus Prime and Megatron,” as its official synopsis teases.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Following this year’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the Australian actor has a Hulk Hogan biopic in the works. Henry, fresh off Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, will next star in The Fire Inside.

Although not in attendance at Comic-Con due to filming Jurassic Park 4, Johansson, 39, voices the bot character Elita in the movie. The role is the latest in a long string of voiceover work, including in Her, The Jungle Book and the Sing movies.

Following last summer's Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, the animated Transformers One is in theaters Sept. 20.

Related Articles

Follow Us

Carlos Marqués-Marcet Orchestrates a Del,...