Less than a week after Paramount Pictures revealed the title of the latest Transformers movie, new information is available about the voice cast. During the production kick-off event, it was confirmed that Peter Cullen, the actor who since the original animated series in the 1980s has voiced Optimus Prime, would be returning, and now we know, thanks to Collider, who will be lending his voice to Optimus Primal, a major character in the new film: Ron Perlman.

This isn’t the first time that Perlman’s deep, booming drawl will be used to bring Optimus Primal to life after the limited series Transformers: Power of the Primes in 2018. Perlman should be familiar to comic book and sci-fi/fantasy audiences for his portrayal of Hellboy in the 2004 film of the same name and its 2008 sequel.

The actor is perhaps best known in recent years for his television roles in Sons of Anarchy, Hand of God, StartUp, and The Capture.

At the kick-off event, Optimus Primal was described as the closest thing to an equal to Optimus Prime, the leader of the Maximals, possessing great wisdom and acting as a father figure to the other Maximals.

He is the captain of the Axalon and his beast mode is a gorilla.

The character was originally voiced by actor Garry Chalk in the late 1990s series Beast Wars: Transformers.

Perlman joins an impressive cast headlining Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback had high-profile roles in In the Heights and Judas and the Black Messiah, respectively. Director Steven Caple Jr. comes to the franchise after directing Creed II, and the script, initially written by Joby Harrold, comes from Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters.