In one of the geekiest cases of “keeping it in the family,” it was confirmed that Leonard Nimoy will join the cast as Sentinel Prime in Michael Bay‘s upcoming Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Why do I say “keeping it in the family”? For one thing, Nimoy was part of the first (animated) Transformers movie, The Transformers: The Movie, released in 1986. He voiced the role of Megatron/Galvatron and was featured among an all-star cast that included Eric Idle and Orson Welles. (So this character change will only complicate Transformers continuity even further …) But Nimoy is also married to Michael Bay’s cousin. On asking Nimoy to join the cast, Bay said
“I was too scared to ask him. Plus, he’s married to Susan Bay, who’s a cousin of mine. So I had to be careful. I’ve met him at family functions. But he told me, ‘I would be honored. I’m glad to be back!’”
Sentinel Prime is the predecessor of Optimus Prime. Nimoy will join a cast that includes Shia LeBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tyrese Gibson, Ken Jeong, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (aka Not Megan Fox). All cast members are doing this movie for the “art” and definitely not the paycheck.
