‘Transformers 5’ Cast, Plot News: Michael Bay Not Confirmed To Direct, Plot Unknown – Is The Franchise Over?

The latest Transformers 5 news could be good and bad, depending on your point of view. While the rumored cast hasn’t changed, according to reports, everything else appears to be unknown.

There are spoilers in this article, so be warned. Watch Transformers: Age of Extinction first if you don’t want it spoiled.

This past week, Michael Bay told Twitter that his involvement as Transformers 5 director has not been confirmed. That means fans and critics who are tired of the franchise could be seeing a proverbial ray of hope. After Revenge of the Fallen, a film which Bay apologized for on grounds that it was rushed, the director has been given nothing but negative opinions by fans and critics alike. Every film he has been involved with since, even just as producer, has been automatically tagged as the “worst film of the year” by fans who hadn’t even seen it yet and critics who are tired of his style.

Re: directing TF5. No, it’s not official. I have not committed to any idea as of yet. Just met with Steven and we are discussing.

— Michael Bay (@michaelbay) September 17, 2015

Despite the box office success of Age of Extinction, the runtime and rather juvenile dialogue still earned director Michael Bay and actor Kelsey Grammer shame in the form of Razzie Awards for their involvement. Bay is likely tired of the critics attacking him no matter what he does, which could be the reason why this round of Transformers 5 news reports he’s not confirmed. He may be hoping a different director can rid the franchise of the negativity the press has given it because of him.

Even the director who had previously directed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles received backlash simply because Michael Bay had produced it. Jonathan Liebesman was the last director to drop out of directing the next Transformers film, also leaving Dave Green to allegedly direct the sequel to TMNT in his stead.

In a recent development in Transformers 5 news, Movie News Guide has revealed that Mark Ryan had not been circulating the idea of splitting the Transformers 5 plot into two separate films after all. Ryan has denied making any such statement, saying he was misquoted. All we know about the storyline and cast is that Cade Yeager, played by Mark Wahlberg, will be back.

By the end of the previous film, Cade had told his daughter’s boyfriend (Jack Reynor) to take care of his little girl (Nicola Peltz), meaning that the two might be absent from the Transformers 5 cast. This also might mean that with Joyce’s (Stanley Tucci) funding, Cade may be in charge of creating new Autobots in the absence of Optimus Prime.

If this Transformers 5 news is to parallel the storyline from the original cartoons, this means Cade may be taking the place of Sparkplug Witwicky and creating Hot Rod. In the first animated film, Hot Rod eventually became Rodimus Prime and was instrumental in the destruction of Unicron, the planet-devouring father of the Decepticons. With a different director at the helm, this round of Transformers 5 news could be exciting to Bay’s haters.

Unfortunately, if Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg can’t find a director for the film, it could possibly suffer the same fate as The Amazing Spider-Man 3. Michael Bay reportedly doesn’t want to be involved with Transformers 5.

Screen Rant has reported that a collection of writers behind some of the biggest successes of past years are allegedly on board to help write the Transformers 5 plot and storyline, as well as future installments. The most notable among them are Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) and the team of Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (Ant-Man) having been singled out to pen TF5.

Other writers rumored to have been added by the latest Transformers 5 news are Christina Hodson (Shut In), Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Jeff Pinkner (Lost), Zak Penn (The Incredible Hulk), Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Iron Man), Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down), and Steven S. DeKnight (Daredevil).

Christian Today also claims that the Dinobots will be back for the next film, possibly in a more central role than the 10 minutes they were seen in Age of Extinction. With Optimus Prime on his way to confront the “creators,” there will be a definite gap in leadership for the Autobots.

What do you think of this latest round of Transformers 5 news?

[Feature image via Paramount Pictures / Gospel Herald]