'Bumblebee' Featurettes: Meet Hailee Steinfeld And John Cena's Human Characters

When you watch a Transformers movie, you're not exactly going in for the people. But in Bumblebee, the prequel revolving around the beloved yellow Autobot, the human characters are just as important as the robotic ones. Paramount Pictures has released two new Bumblebee featurettes that spotlight two of those human characters brought to life by Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena.

Though Bumblebee is the titular character, Bumblebee is really Charlie Watson's story. The gearhead teenager discovers Bumblebee as a beat-up Volkswagen Beetle, and soon learns of his true identity. They become the closest of friends, because of their similar dispositions as outsiders — Charlie as a social outcast, and Bumblebee as an Autobot lost on Earth.

"One of the things we tried to establish is how much these two are mirrors of each other," director Travis Knight says in the featurette.

"Bumblebee helps her discover things about herself and becomes more like a best friend," Steinfeld adds. "Bee would do anything to save Charlie. You can see with just a look between the two of them how much she cares and how much he cares."

On the polar opposite side is John Cena as the movie's villain, Agent Burns. The leader of Sector 7, the government agency which takes a major role in the later Transformers movies, he has a vendetta against Bumblebee and will do anything to capture the Autobot — including teaming up with the two Decepticons that are hunting Bumblebee down.

"This guy is a pillar of strength and once he finds his prey, he will pursue it doggedly," Knight says of Agent Burns.

Bumblebee also stars Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, and Pamela Adlon, with Dylan O'Brien, Peter Cullen, Angela Bassett and Justin Theroux in voice roles.Bumblebee opens in theaters on December 21, 2018.

On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee the Autobot seeks refuge in a junkyard in a small California beach town. Charlie, on the brink of turning 18 years old and trying to find her place in the world, soon discovers the battle-scarred and broken Bumblebee. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns that this is no ordinary yellow Volkswagen.