Keegan-Michael Key Teases Two Top-Secret Projects For 2025

Keegan-Michael Key has big plans for 2025, and he’s keeping fans guessing.

In 2024, Key demonstrated his impressive range across multiple entertainment platforms. A standout moment was his performance as the voice of B-127, also known as Bumblebee, in the animated prequel "Transformers One," which debuted in theaters on September 20. This role was especially meaningful to Key, who called it a "full circle moment" that brought him back to his childhood love for the iconic 1980s "Transformers" series.

Following his successful year, Keegan-Michael Key is looking forward to what he plans to accomplish in 2025.

In a recent interview with PEOPLE Magazine, the 53-year-old actor and comedian revealed that he’s currently working on two top-secret “bucket list” projects—and while he’s not spilling all the details just yet, he’s dropping some intriguing hints.

“I don’t know how to answer without saying things I can’t say,” Key confessed with a laugh. “If only I could tell you.”

What he can say is that these projects mark new territory for him.

“I have two projects in development that I’m very excited about. Both are checks on my bucket list,” Key shared. “One goes in the sports world direction, and one goes in the action direction, which is very different than a lot of the work that I have done in the past.”

For Key, 2025 is shaping up to be a standout year. “I got a good feeling this is [going to be my year],” he said confidently. “We’ll see how it goes.”

While Key is keeping his “bucket list” projects under wraps, he’s got plenty of other exciting ventures lined up, including "Play Dirty," a film directed by Shane Black. Starring alongside Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, and Dermot Mulroney, Key describes the experience of making the movie as “a lot of fun.”

Key’s upcoming projects also include one he’s particularly enthusiastic about -- the audiobook version of "The History of Sketch Comedy: A Journey Through the Art and Craft of Humor," a book he co-wrote with his wife, Elle Key, in 2023.

Recording the audiobook proved to be an adventure in itself. “There’s lots of characters in the audiobook that I refer to, and I do the voices of all the characters,” Key said. “It was a blast.”

The decision to have Key mimic comedy icons came from none other than Elle, whom he married in 2018. “I said, ‘Are we going to license the voices?’ and she said, ‘Oh, no, no. You’re doing it. You’re doing Dudley Moore, you’re doing John Cleese, you’re doing Carol Burnett, you’re doing Chris Rock. You’re doing all the voices,’” he explained.

Key and Jordan Peele, the dynamic comedy duo behind some of the most iconic sketches in recent memory, continue to share a close bond. The two first met in the mid-2000s while working on Fox’s "MADtv," before creating their own wildly popular sketch comedy series, "Key & Peele," which ran from 2012 to 2015.

Their creative partnership extended beyond television, as they teamed up for the 2016 action-comedy film "Keanu." Fans have also enjoyed seeing them collaborate in other projects, including the first season of FX’s "Fargo" and as voice actors in "Toy Story 4" and Netflix’s "Wendell & Wild."

Despite their busy schedules and individual careers, Key and Peele remain close friends. In another interview with PEOPLE, Key opened up about his relationship with Peele, admitting they don’t get to see each other as often as they’d like.

“Whenever we have an opportunity to see each other, we do,” Key shared. “Whenever we have an opportunity.”

Key explained that Peele is often one of the first people he reaches out to when he’s in Los Angeles. “I certainly enjoy spending time with him, so when my travels take me to Los Angeles, he's usually one of the first calls that I make. I land, and I go, ‘Hey buddy, we’re in town,’ and often we get to have dinner,” he said.

The pair’s connection feels effortless, according to Key. “Our relationship is like a good friend’s relationship, where you pick up where you left off, or the little things that you shared in the past, you just go right back into it again,” he explained.

Fans will be happy to know that the duo isn’t letting time or distance affect their friendship. Key even hinted at an upcoming reunion, adding, “I look forward to seeing him in 2025.”