Transformers: Shattered Glass (Netflix Limited Series)

Transformers: Shattered Glass is an upcoming adult animated series produced by Hasbro and Rooster Teeth based on the Shattered Glass Collection toyline and accompanying IDW Publishing comic book series, with animation done by Tatsunoko Productions (previously involved with the Prime Wars Trilogy cartoon for Machinima) and voice production by Horseless Cowboy. F.J. DeSanto acts as the series showrunner, a role he previously held for the Prime Wars Trilogy web series and War for Cybertron Trilogy series, and currently does for Transformers Legacy as well. The series is written by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, creators of American Horror Story, with War for Cybertron writers Gavin Hignight, Tim Sheridan and Mae Catt serving as part of the writers room as well.

The story of Shattered Glass is a spin-off to War For Cybertron and Legacy, taking place in a reverse-polarity universe where the Autobots are evil and the Decepticons are good. “Shards” is a story set years after the end of the Great War, where an Autobot seeker named Blurr discovers a dangerous secret that ignites a new confrontation between the power-hungry Autobot autocrats and the freedom-fighting Decepticon laborers.

Shattered Glass consists of 10 episodes/22 minutes each, and it was designed as an adult limited series. A second season was originally in the cards, with a similar runtime, but it was cancelled due to IDW losing the rights to the Transformers franchise, thus being unable to continue the comic series from which the show, and the toyline, are inspired.

The series is set to premiere on Netflix in fall 2023.

Premise
SHATTERED GLASS. A dark reflection of the Transformers universe, where the heroes you once knew are now monstrously evil… Megatron and the heroic Decepticons battle the evil forces of the Autobots in a twisted tale that's more than meets the eye! Many kilocycles after the Cybertronian War destroyed Earth, tyrannical Autobots dominate their homeworld, and the freedom-fighting Decepticons struggle to survive. Blurr, an Autobot bodyscrapper, seeks his next bounty: Starscream, who is carrying valuable information that could reignite the war! Meanwhile, a guilt-ridden Megatron weighs the choice of whether to continue fighting, at the risk of losing what little they have left. And when Megatron and Starscream find themselves in the sights of a twisted Autobot warlord and his top lieutenant, the world will be left in shards!

Cast
Main Cast

Jason Marnocha as Megatron

Jake Foushee as Optimus Prime

Frank Todaro as Starscream, Rewind

Evan Peters as Blurr

Rafael Goldstein as Ratchet, Rorochi

Edward Bosco as Ultra Magnus, Soundwave

Joe Zieja as Goldbug, Bumblebee

Anya Taylor-Joy as Flamewar

Keith Silverstein as Jetfire

Taissa Farmiga as Fireglide, Gliph

Bill Rogers as Slicer

Recurring Cast

Aaron Veach as Prowl

Michael Dunn as Chromedome

Alexander Dilallo as Barricade, Tap-Out

Jamie Foxx as Jazz

Nolan North as Metroplex

Devon Terrell as Dirge

Matt Stokoe as Astrotrain

Andrew Whipp as Reflector

Kaiser Johnson as Ironhide

Linsay Rousseau as Elita-1

Harry Lloyd as Perpector

Guest Stars

Ben Jurand as Alpha Trion

Winona Ryder as Termagax

Richard Epcar as Sentinel Prime

Jonathan Lipow as Unicron

Sarah Poulson as Gaea

Remy Hii as Primus

Peter Cullen as mainline Optimus Prime

Frank Welker as mainline Megatron

Episodes
Episode 1: Shard 1: Blurr

Many kilocycles after the Cybertronian War has destroyed Earth, Blurr, an evil Autobot Seeker, hunts his newest bounty who holds a piece of information that could reignite the war.

Episode 2: Shard 2: Megatron

Megatron is the only bot who can stop the three Autobot warlords from acquiring information that could reignite the war, but can he forgive his past mistakes and take up the mantle of Deception leader again?

Episode 3: Shard 3: Starscream

Starscream seeks out more Decepticons to prevent another war that could destroy Cybertron, but memories of the past haunt every step. As the Autobots close in, Starscream must decide between peace for his planet and his former best friend.

Episode 4: Shard 4: Goldbug

Goldbug, a vicious warlord formerly known as Bumblebee, must become the leader that Optimus Prime failed to be as he fights Decepticons and commands Autobots to extract information from Statscream.

Episode 5: Shard 5: Jetfire

Jetfire’s loyalties are tested when Goldbug asks him to commit the ultimate sacrifice in the name of the Autobots. His decision results in a Cybertron-shattering event.

Episode 6: Shard 6: Ultra Magnus

Cybertron sits on the brink of war as Autobots and Decepticons race to gain control of a Titan that could destroy either side in nanocycles.

Episode 7: Shard 7: Blaster

Slicer recruits Blaster to infiltrate Decepticon Radio, but Blaster will have to stop being the star of his own one-bot show in order to get back in the good graces of the Autobots.

Episode 8: Shard 8: Slicer

Slicer has been tasked with the war’s most important task: infiltrate Goldbug’s camp around Metroplex to sabotage his plans and gather information for Ultra Magnus. The bot that controls the Titan wins the war, but Slicer has bigger problems. And Soundwave gives a voice to all of them.

Episode 9: Shard 9: Flamewar

Tired of waiting for Megatron to give an order, Flamewar charges into battle in the airspace above Metroplex. She knows what Megatron wants: Victory. The Titan. Autobot destruction. And the best way to prove herself to him is to secure all that for him, no matter the cost. Right?

Episode 10: Shard 10: Soundwave

The deadly battle is here. Autobots and Decepticons struggle for control over Metroplex, Starscream’s Spark, and Cybertron. And through it all, Soundwave, as always, works to save bots, no matter their allegiance. Soundwave isn’t a fighter, but are words enough when faced with all-out war?

Development
While working on the Transformers Legacy series, FJ DeSanto put forward the idea of featuring the Shattered Glass characters of the current incarnation as part of the multiversal story, to which Hasbro agreed as to boost the sales for the Shattered Glass toyline and comics. Believing that fans would be so thrilled as to demand a series to be made, since fans did asked for a series based on Shattered Glass to be made for years, Hasbro quietly commissioned development on an adaptation of the 2 comic book series that were based on Shattered Glass. But while they sought to capitalize on the demand for this unusual concept, Hasbro would also know that the audience would be made up almost entirely of adult fans and collectors, as such, they commissioned this series to be adult oriented and be released on Netflix, taking clues from other animations of this kind such as Castlevania, Tekken: Bloodline, and so on. In order to save on production, and because Shattered Glass could not receive a second season due to IDW's losing rights on the franchise and no longer being able to continue the comic series, Hasbro, for the first time ever, decided to make it exclusively as a 10 episode limited series that covers all of the story from the comics, and to be animated with an improved quality by Tatsunoko Productions, who also worked on the Prime Wars Trilogy for Machinima.

Toyline
Following the unprecedented release of the Shattered Glass Optimus Prime and Shattered Glass Ratchet two-pack in Hasbro's Generations Selects 2020 toyline, the April 9th Hasbro Pulse Fan Fest 2021 unveiled the Transformers Generations: Shattered Glass Collection subline, containing more characters from the long-dormant Shattered Glass continuity. After the online convention, the other four toys (which were given Sideswipe silhouettes) were slowly revealed on Transformers Tuesdays from April to July 2021. Much like Generations Selects, the Shattered Glass Collection is composed of Generations redecoes and retools. Costing more than the MSRP of other Deluxe and Voyager Class toys, each figure is accompanied by an issue, with an exclusive UV cover, of IDW Publishing's Shattered Glass "Shards" mini-series. The toys are packaged in uniquely shaped boxes with character art and brief bios. The boxes only say "Shattered Glass", with "Shattered Glass Collection" coming from listings and product descriptions. The toyline is exclusive to Hasbro Pulse in the United States and United Kingdom.

Release
The series is scheduled for release in fall 2023, a window chosen by Hasbro precisely as to be able to carry on with the promotion of all their content, which includes the movie Transformers Rise of the Beasts, the series Transformers Legacy and Earthspark season 2 which are both distributed through Paramount+, and BotBots season 2, which is released together with Shattered Glass on Netflix.

Trivia

 * Shattered Glass is the first Transformers TV series to be branded as an adult series, as while Prime Wars and War For Cybertron were aimed at older audiences, they were designated with a rating of TV-14 (or TV-Y7), where Shattered Glass is designated with a rating of TV-16 (or +16).


 * It is also the first Transformers series to include hints of a sexual connection, most evident in the interactions between Megatron and Flamewar.


 * Also a first for a Transformers series, this is the only series where Megatron is explicitly shown to have a love interest, that being Flamewar. While in Generation 1 and War For Cybertron he was implied to have feelings for Nightbird, and Elita-1 respectively (with whom he's implied to have had a relationship at some point in the past), Shattered Glass is the first time when he's shown to have a genuine relationship with someone. It would also appear to mirror the relationship between Optimus Prime and Elita-1.


 * The plot points of Megatron being an ex-miner and revolutionary who also got in trouble with the law multiple times are based on IDW's Megatron Origin comic series, but adapted backwards to fit with the new theme, but it is also a mirror plot point from War For Cybertron (which also includes the fact that he has the same body type as his WFC counterpart). The original incarnation of Shattered Glass Megatron was a math teacher at the university of Polyhex who had an inexplicable ability to predict the future by using calculations, and he was building an underground resistance against the Autobots, and who became Galvatron by the power of Primus.


 * Unlike his original counterpart, Optimus Prime is more ruthless in this version, and stated to be abusive towards Elita-1. The plot point of him being an archivist bored of his position and having been abused by his father Alpha Trion were kept from the original incarnation.


 * This is also the first Transformers series to be branded as a limited series, and this is only because of factors that were not under Hasbro's control.


 * This comic's existence was accidentally "leaked" in September 2020 in the blurb for the then-upcoming Generations Selects Optimus Prime and Ratchet two-pack, which advertised them as characters from IDW's Shattered Glass comic—at the time, however, most members of the fandom assumed that this was just Hasbro mistakenly accrediting IDW Publishing instead of Fun Publications for the original Shattered Glass concept, and not any kind of teaser for a Shattered Glass revival.