It’s a noble pursuit, trying to tie in real, mysterious sites around the world to your movie narrative, and many projects have made interesting use of such a hook. Transformers: The Last Knight is going all in, however, and will apparently attempt to make use of one of the most mysterious sites of all: Stonehenge. As Michael Bay’s giant film franchise seeks to expand its mythology and explain some origins, it seems that the ancient English monument is central to that story – according to the latest poster (seen down below).
Stonehenge is an ancient stone circle in Wiltshire, and is an iconic part of British history. It’s been dated back to between 2000 and 3000 BC and is a noted World Heritage Site, managed and maintained by charitable trusts on behalf of the Crown. Despite decades of exploration, investigation, and speculation, however, its original purpose has never been entirely confirmed.
Its stones are famously aligned to the sunset of the winter solstice, and the sunrise of the summer solstice, so the monument has remained a focal point for those celebrating those times – but the fact that it was constructed by a civilization that kept no written records means its construction and early use remains a mystery.
Evidently, according to this new poster, Michael Bay intends to take that mystery and incorporate it into the mythology of the Transformers – almost certainly suggesting that it’s some form of landing site or communication point for historical alien contact. These English connections are further borne out by the prominence of the character of Sir Edward Burton, played by Anthony Hopkins, who will appear alongside franchise returnee, Mark Wahlberg.
Tying the mythology of the series in to mysterious sites around the world makes for a fun story that has tangible elements – resulting in a narrative that is grounded in reality. This is of great importance when we’re talking about giant robots from space that pretend to be Earthly machinery. Just what Stonehenge actually represents to the Autobots will be revealed when Transformers: The Last Knight is released on June 21st.
