Transformers Timeline – How To Watch Them In Chronological Order

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• How to watch Transformers movies in release order
• How to watch Transformers movies in chronological order

Transformers One has landed in cinemas to continue the Transformers series by going right back into the past.

It might seem simple to watch every Transformers movie in order, but things are slightly more complex than you think. The first five movies played out in chronological order before things were mixed up with Bumblebee.

So if Transformers One has got you wanting to rewatch the entire series, we've got the definitive guide to watching the Transformers movies in release and chronological order.

How to watch Transformers movies in release order

The most straightforward way to watch the eight Transformers movies released to date is in the order they were first released in cinemas.

If that's the way you want to tackle your rewatch, then here's the Transformers movies in release order:

• Transformers (2007)• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)• Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)• Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)• Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)• Bumblebee (2018)• Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)• Transformers One (2024)

How to watch Transformers movies in chronological order

Truthfully, the Transformers movies have never really been much for canon and has regularly rewritten its own timeline in the service of a new plot.

However, if you do want to try and watch in chronological order, you'll have to start with Transformers One in cinemas, before watching the two prequels to Michael Bay's original movie and then watching them in order.

Easy.

Here's the Transformers movies in chronological order:

Transformers One

Watch now: In US cinemas now (UK cinemas – October 11)

Transformers One has now taken over from Bumblebee as the first movie in the timeline if you want to watch in chronological order.

The animated movie is set 300 million years before Michael Bay's first Transformers movie. It tells the story of how best friends Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) became sworn enemies Optimus Prime and Megatron.

Assuming it does well at the box office, it could be the start of a trilogy that will eventually lead into the movies that already exist, but we'll wait to see if that happens.

Bumblebee

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store

Bumblebee was the first movie chronologically, set 20 years before the first movie, in 1987, but that's no longer the case.

Bumblebee starts during the Cybertron Civil War; in a last-ditch effort to survive, Optimus Prime sends Autobot scout B-127 to Earth to form a base where they can regroup. There, the scout befriends a girl named Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), who names him Bumblebee.

As we explained when Bumblebee was released: "One of the biggest continuity issues stems from the decision to include Sector 7 in Bumblebee. They end up working with the Decepticons who somehow convince them that Bumblebee is a 'dangerous criminal' they need to hunt down.

"Sector 7 act like it's the first time they've ever met a Decepticon, and allow them access to their satellites, with Sector 7 excited by the prospect of what they can learn from the Decepticons."

The problem being Sector 7 had been using Decepticon technology throughout the 20th century. As established in the first Transformers film, they've been reverse-engineering modern devices from the frozen body of Megatron, which they discovered in the Arctic. So it's hard to believe they wouldn't know a Decepticon when they saw one.

It also throws out the entire timeline of the Autobots meeting up on Earth at the end of Bumblebee: in Transformers, they arrive on Earth after a stranded Bumblebee sends a beacon. So which is it, hmm? Who knows? We don't.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is both a kind-of sequel to Bumblebee (although Charlie doesn't return, Optimus makes a reference to her) and still a prequel to the first movie (as far as we know, right now).

The movie is set in 1994 and introduces two new human characters, Noah (Anthony Ramos) and Elena (Dominique Fishback), who team up with the Autobots and the Maximals to stop Scourge from bringing the planet-eating Unicron to Earth.

By the end of the movie, the Autobots are still stuck on Earth, but arguably the biggest evidence that we're now in a 'new' timeline is that The Last Knight apparently revealed that Unicron is buried in Earth, rather than in another universe like Rise of the Beasts shows.

With Rise of the Beasts set to form the first part of a trilogy, it could be that by the end of the next two movies (if they happen), everything lines up with what was established in Bay's series, but that remains to be seen.

Transformers

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store

The beginning of the... not beginning, apparently! The first Transformers movie set up the main timeline that has been moderately disrupted by Bumblebee.

But it's worth pointing out that every movie in the series basically pretty much rewrote the history of how long the Autobots have been on Earth, even writing them into the mythology of King Arthur (yep!).

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen establishes the mythology dating back to 17,000 BCE which, given how flimsily the movies are all held together, is neither here nor there.

It takes place two years after the events of the previous movie but the story still revolves around Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) who gets a shard of this thing called the AllSpark which causes him to have visions.

It turns out he's being haunted by the Decepticons under the orders of an ancient Decepticon named The Fallen, who seeks to get revenge on Earth by finding and activating a machine that would provide the Decepticons with an energon source, destroying the sun and all life on Earth in the process.

This is the last Transformers movie to star Megan Fox, who would go on to be replaced by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Sam's love interest.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store

Transformers: Dark of the Moon continues to follow the Autobots and Decepticons in the final days of their war, as they battle to possess powerful technology from their homeworld that crashed on Earth's Moon and restore their home. Surprise, surprise, the Autobots win!

You'd think this would be the end of the series, but no...

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store

Transformers: Age of Extinction begins 65 million years ago when an alien race known as the "Creators" used devices called Seeds to cover Earth with an alloy that will one day be called "Transformium", wiping out the dinosaurs in the process.

In the present day, geologist Darcy Tyril (Sophia Myles) excavates the Transformium for KSI Industries, which uses it to build Transformer drones.

Though some of the Transformers from the previous films appear in this one, it features an entirely new human cast including Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer, among others.

Transformers: The Last Knight

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store

Transformers: The Last Knight is the movie in which we get the King Arthur mythology, featuring a descendent of Merlin (Laura Haddock stars as Viviane Wembly) and you know, King Arthur himself.

Anyway, by the end, the Autobots leave Earth to rebuild what is left of Cybertron. It's the latest movie chronologically-speaking, and it's unclear whether we'll ever find out what would happen next.

Transformers One is out now in US cinemas and is released in UK cinemas on October 11.

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Read MoreGabriella Geisinger

Gabriella Geisinger is a freelance film critic and journalist, with a focus on J-drama & film, and the Japanese production industry. She was previously Locations Editor at Screen International and Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy. Her writing can also befound in Curzon, 1883, and more. A born and raised New Yorker, she loves coffee and the colour black, obviously.

Ian Sandwell

Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.