Peter Cullen's Final Original Optimus Prime Performance Revealed in New Transformers Short

Peter Cullen recorded one more original performance as Optimus Prime before his death. Hasbro has now revealed that it appears in Optimus Prime: Awakening, a new 12-minute animated short screening with select 40th-anniversary presentations of The Transformers: The Movie beginning September 17.

What Optimus Prime: Awakening actually is

Optimus Prime: Awakening is a 12-minute CG-animated short, directed by Joshua Wassung and written by Ryan Parrott, with a score by Bobby Krlic and animation produced by The Third Floor. Hasbro is describing it specifically as carrying Peter Cullen’s final original voice performance as Optimus Prime — a narrower claim than “final acting performance” or “final voice role” overall, and worth keeping precise. It plays after the credits of the restored 1986 film at select 40th-anniversary screenings, not as a standalone release.

Frank Welker returns as Megatron and Soundwave

Frank Welker, who has voiced Megatron since the character’s original 1984 debut, returns for the short alongside his other longtime role as Soundwave. Welker and Cullen have been paired as Optimus and Megatron for more than four decades, and Welker has described recording this story after Cullen’s death as meaningful, saying returning to play Megatron and Soundwave “for one final story opposite Peter’s Optimus… was a real gift,” and that he’ll miss his friend but that “his heart and values will always be part of Optimus Prime.” Nothing in Hasbro’s announcement suggests this is Welker’s own final performance as either character.

Hasbro had been teasing this since July

The short’s existence isn’t brand new information. Hasbro and Fathom Entertainment first revealed at San Diego Comic-Con on July 24 that the restored film would carry a new, never-before-seen chapter after the credits, without naming it or describing what it contained. The September 1 announcement is what filled in the specifics: the title, the 12-minute runtime, Cullen’s final performance, Welker’s returning roles, and the rest of the creative team.

Why the 1986 movie is the anchor

The Transformers: The Movie is best remembered for killing off Optimus Prime partway through its story, a moment that’s stayed a point of fan grievance for decades. Hasbro has leaned into that history directly, branding the entire 40th-anniversary campaign “The Apology Tour.” The new short’s placement after the credits of that same film is clearly meant to gesture at that history — but Hasbro has not explained precisely where Awakening’s story fits in Transformers continuity, or whether it’s meant to follow, precede, or exist outside the events of the 1986 film’s ending.

That caution matters here specifically: the title Awakening doesn’t by itself mean Optimus is resurrected, that the short retcons or changes the ending of the 1986 movie, or that it’s connected to Optimus’s later revival in the original G1 cartoon. None of that has been confirmed.

Where audiences can see it

Hasbro and Fathom’s restored 4K theatrical run of The Transformers: The Movie begins September 17, 2026 — Transformers Day — with the short playing at select anniversary screenings rather than guaranteed at every showing everywhere. The rollout has expanded market by market: the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Germany were named first, with France, Singapore, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Peru added since. Fathom’s own ticketing listings, searchable by city or postal code, are the current source of truth for which theaters and showtimes actually include it.

Cullen’s four-decade Optimus legacy

Cullen originated Optimus Prime’s voice for the syndicated 1984 Transformers cartoon and returned to the role across animation, video games and the Michael Bay-directed live-action films, along with later franchise appearances, for more than four decades. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award — presented by Welker himself — at the 2nd Children’s & Family Emmy Awards in December 2023. Cullen said for years that Optimus’s voice and temperament were shaped by his older brother, Larry Cullen, a decorated Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam; Larry’s advice ahead of Peter’s 1984 audition was, in short, that real strength doesn’t need to be loud. Cullen died August 26, 2026, at his home in Los Angeles, at age 85.

The Transformers: The Movie’s 40th-anniversary “Apology Tour” branding. Credit: Hasbro / Fathom Entertainment.