Peter Cullen makes last voice appearance in upcoming short film

A week later, the world still reels over the death of Peter Cullen, best known as the voice of the Optimus Prime from the Transformers franchise.

While 2023’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was Peter’s last voice appearance as Optimus in the Transformers movies, fans will hear him as the Autobot leader one last time in an upcoming short film. As reported recently by ScreenRant via DiscussingFilm on Twitter, Peter’s final voice role as Optimus will be in Optimus Prime: Awakening. The 12-minute short film expands on the story of Optimus Prime, and serves as a tribute to the the fans and to the Canadian-born actor who brought the iconic Autobot leader to life.

Optimus Prime: Awakening will debut alongside the theatrical re-release of Transformers: The Movie from September 17-22 to celebrate the film’s 40th Anniversary.

Peter Cullen passed away last week on Wednesday, August 26, known for over 40 years of voice acting work. Not only has he been most famous for his voice acting role as Optimus Prime, but he also voiced more characters over the decades, from fellow Autobot Ironhide and Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh franchise to the vocals of the Predator and more. In the past several days, Peter’s fellow Transformers colleagues from David Kaye, Jess Harnell, and Neil Ross paid their respects to the late actor (via Polygon). Fans have taken to social media to pour out their own tributes to Peter Cullen as well.

Additionally, a new update has surfaced that adds to Peter Cullen’s passing. While his cause of death was not publicly announced, PEOPLE helped report this week that Peter’s cause of death was due to cardiac arrest, according to a death certificate they were given. Respiratory arrest and other heath issues were also mentioned in the death certificate.

Francis Parco | Associate Editor

Francis has been gaming since he was little, with PlayStation as his most preferred platform growing up. He also games on PC, though. Other interests include Star Wars (a whole lot of it), Lego Bionicle, Marvel, and especially other Disney properties.