Transformers: War for Cybertron Kingdom ending explained

Kingdom, the third and final chapter of the Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy on Netflix (2021), wraps up the saga in fitting fashion while leaving the door open for the future and further Netflix spinoffs. I think it's probably the strongest entry in the trilogy, and despite a few characters getting pushed aside, it earns a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

What follows breaks down the overall plot and where things could be going next, so there are full spoilers ahead.

Kingdom brings the Beast Wars Maximals and Predacons into the War for Cybertron story

The third chapter picks up in the prehistoric age of Earth. Our heroes and villains have both crash landed on the planet, and here they come face to face with the characters from Beast Wars. The series so far has felt like a greatest hits compilation of the Transformers story, and outside of these, we met the Quintessons last time. Much like the AllSpark, the series gives you visions of what you desire most in a Transformers show, and it's clear that there are other plans for the future.

The mission remains to recover the AllSpark, but things get confusing early on when our core characters realize that the Maximals and Predacons they meet on Earth are from their future. Because Galvatron appeared with the golden disc in Earthrise and a future version of Megatron traveled to the past, the timeline has been massively altered. The heroes from the past and future decide to team up once more to stop a darker path from coming to fruition.

It's a lot of timey wimey, wibbly wobbly stuff that feels like Days of Future Past, but as someone who loves time travel stories and the idea of variants, I quickly jumped on board with this finale. "I think that this is probably the strongest entry in the trilogy," and though it's not newcomer friendly, it does enough to fill in the blanks for those whose first time with Transformers might be this trilogy.

Megatron's golden disc and Dinobot's betrayal shape the battle for the AllSpark

Things are made worse when we learn the golden disc contains the outcome of every battle in Megatron's future. It's the almanac from Back to the Future, and it makes failure almost impossible for the villain. As the Predacons and Maximals both fight to get the AllSpark, Megatron uses his knowledge of the future in an almost temporal pincer strategy, and it makes him infinitely more dangerous.

Dinobot going turncoat throws a spanner in the works. He manages to get the Matrix in episode 3 and passes it to Optimus Prime, so the good guys can at least counterbalance the villains. Dinobot dies in one of the series' most heartbreaking scenes, and though I was expecting the character to have more screen time due to his popularity, his impact doesn't go unnoticed.

I think the main issue the series has is that it's trying to fit in as much Transformers lore as it can, and because of this, some of the characters are pushed to the wayside. This includes Starscream and his revolution, as well as Elita-1, who we last saw on Cybertron in the first season. I was expecting her to have much more of a role.

Optimus Prime must lose at the AllSpark temple

The Matrix leads Optimus to a temple in which the AllSpark is kept, and he gets a warning of Nemesis Prime, who becomes a pivotal character in the finale. Megatron heads to the temple to get the AllSpark, and this is where we learn that it was then that Megatron lost it. That is why his future versions have been trying to intervene in the past, making constant reboot after constant reboot in the hopes of getting one universe they can stick to.

It's left the timeline looking like a Jackson Pollock painting, and it will be interesting to see if they prune all of the branches in the future to streamline the universe. Though Optimus is initially beaten at the temple, he's saved by Optimus Primal, and he receives a message from a vision of Elita-1 saying that Optimus must lose.

Throughout this entry, we see how constant war leads to more war, and Optimus even apologizes to Primal at one point for creating a world in which he was drafted into an endless conflict. He allows Megatron to win, but this backfires for the villain, and the sparks in the temple power up the device. We learn it shares a symbiotic link with Cybertron, and with the planet dying, it too is weakening.

Why I think Optimus Primal and the Maximals survive the ending

After this, the characters try to return to Cybertron, but they're attacked by the Nemesis warship. Teletraan-1 arrives and saves them at the last minute. Optimus says goodbye to Primal, knowing that their actions will likely wipe them from existence, but we don't see this happen.

I think that due to the multiverse, the paradox is avoided. These characters will likely continue, as they come from an alternate timeline. Another example of this happens in Avengers: Endgame, when the heroes create a branch in reality that means Nebula can kill Nebula without any issues. I think these characters will be okay, and as we don't see them disappear, it's likely that they'll be there to fight Unicron when he arrives.

Nemesis Prime and Galvatron are revealed as future versions on a ruined Cybertron

They return to Cybertron and find it a snowy shadow of its former self. After making it to the temple of the AllSpark, Optimus is devastated to learn that Elita-1 has been killed. Prime blames himself, and I love how this chapter focuses on how the characters' pasts and futures are all interlinked to make this endless loop of war.

During this time, Megatron comes face to face with Galvatron once more, who reveals that he is Megatron's future self, enslaved by Unicron. To make matters worse, Nemesis Prime shows up, and we discover that he caused the devastation on Cybertron. Nemesis is very much a black mirror of Optimus Prime, and there have been a number of incarnations of him. His backstory has alternated between him being a clone of Optimus or a machine molded in the shape of Prime.

In War for Cybertron, however, he's the future version of the character, the result of Prime refusing to give up the quest to get the AllSpark. This has completely corrupted him, and the finale becomes about breaking the habits of the past to save the future. We learn that Nemesis Prime and Galvatron eventually end up working together and want the AllSpark so they can destroy Unicron.

Both come from a timeline in which Optimus didn't return with the AllSpark, so they intervened and changed things so that Prime could come back. They want to restore their own timeline and free themselves of the slavery, and Optimus Primal confirms this. However, he says they should make the most of what they have and make a stand.

The Cybertron finale, Elita-1's return and the Orion Pax moment

It ramps up to a brilliant finale that plays out like a Crisis on Infinite Earths fought on the wasteland of Cybertron. Megatron realizes that he's not a slave to his future, and it's great seeing him turn from someone who was willing to ravage Cybertron into someone who will fight for it no matter what. Seeing all of the characters from the trilogy and Transformers lore together makes for a brilliant last battle.

Elita-1 returns after Bumblebee takes the AllSpark back to the temple. They stop Galvatron and Nemesis from making it there, and she tells Prime she loves him before calling him Orion. Before he became Optimus Prime, the character was known as Orion Pax, and for fans of the franchise, I think this will be a very touching moment.

Because the AllSpark is returned, the darker timeline can be avoided, but that doesn't mean now is the time to rest, and Optimus knows they must prepare for the future. He attempts to make a truce with the Decepticons. Megatron refuses, but decides to find a place on the planet where they won't come across one another.

Unicron sets his sights on this timeline

Starscream can still hear Unicron, and the season ends with us knowing that the villain is now after this timeline, as traveling through the Dead Universe has given him ideas. In space, he absorbs both Galvatron and Nemesis, and it seemed unlikely to me that they would appear in a next season. Unicron would become the big bad of any sequel, and due to those final scenes, I thought it was more likely than not that Netflix would continue the Transformers show with a new series carrying across the characters from this one.

Unicron is the devourer of realities, and over the years he's had several creators offering different takes on him. This has recently been streamlined into one single continuity for the character, which relies on something called the multiversal singularity. That means there is one Unicron across the entire multiverse, and it's only possible for him to exist in one reality at a time. Unicron travels between these realities, feasting upon them one by one, and we know he has enslaved countless versions of other characters to achieve his goals.

With Galvatron and Nemesis both defeated, I think he will try a new tactic, and who knows how he will use the Dead Universe to achieve his goals. I would love to see Teletraan-1 stand up to him. Going forward, I think the planet will have some peace for some time, but with the arrival of Unicron, both the Decepticons and Autobots will decide to team up for the greater good.

All in all, it was a great series, and "the ending of this one has got me hungry for more." Some of the characters got brushed to the side, but I still had a lot of fun with it, and that's why Kingdom gets a 7.5 out of 10.