Transformers 6 Will Not Continue Last Knight's Storyline

Transformers movie franchise producer continues to make the rounds promoting Pet Semetary. In an interview with Slashfilm, he answers two questions about Transformers along with stuff about Meg, Snake Eyes and more which you can read here. In regards to Transformers the first thing to understand is he clearly doesn't know what "reboot" and "continuity" is but Bumblebee clearly maintained Bay-verse continuity and was not a reboot. This led to hope that Transformers 6 may continue the Unicron plot. Based on the below, that will not be the case. It doesn't mean TF6 wouldn't maintain the movie continuity, it would just ignore or hand wave away that particular plot point.

For the next Transformers are you looking for new directors or hoping you can still make Michael Bay an offer?
I think Bay has made it really clear that he loved what he did and he’s not doing anymore. So I think the answer is we’re writing a script. At that point, once we get script we have a strong belief in, then we’ll begin to debate that. Michael’s made it really clear that he didn’t want to do it. I don’t blame him. He spent a hell of a lot, a decade of his life, shooting them.

Are you developing a script that picks up where The Last Knight left off?
No.

Transformers 6 Dropped From Schedule For A "Reset"

Today Hasbro provided a little peak into their future plans for the Transformers movie franchise. This weekend is the start of Toy Fair 2018 in New York and the toy company hosted their Investor Preview Day that shows off their upcoming plans for their various toy properties (such as getting hold of the Power Rangers license) and of course Transformers. Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner said "We’re actively developing live action and animated films, and have dated several under this new agreement. We’re excited about this year’s Transformers: Bumblebee, as we work with the new Paramount team to reset the future direction of Transformers. We’ll be partially financing the production of these films, and Bumblebee is the first under the new agreement."

In the long term what that means was not revealed but in the short term it means that Transformers 6 is no longer in the works for what was going to be a 2019 release. In the short term Hasbro is planning a China exclusive animated series in 2019 called "Nesha and the Transformers" while western countries will get "Transformers: Cyberverse" cartoon and toy line that will likely replace the "Transformer: Generations" line that was represented by the Prime Trilogy of toys.

On to the speculating. I am going to go ahead and take "reset" to essentially mean "reboot." In short, the "Bay-verse" will end with Bumblebee: The Movie. The Transformers Writers Room of scripts have probably been trash canned too since they were mostly devised with the Bay-verse in mind. While not saying it, likely the next Transformers movie will not come until 2021 at the earliest to provide breathing room for that "reset" in consumer minds. Any new movies will likely ignore the Bay-verse. For reference, see the various Spider-Man reboots. When the deal between Hasbro and Paramount was renewed, it apparently gave the toy company greater control and say over the movies but since we have not yet seen a movie with Hasbro in greater control of the creative process, we have little to go on for what the result will look like in movie form. All we really have is the various cartoons and IDW comic books from the last decade or so to go by. Those results vary wildly depending on franchise and target audience but the Transformers cartoons over the last few years have hit the "all ages" note fairly well.

Hasbro Reveals Logos for Three Transformers Movies

At a consumer conference on Tuesday, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner officially christened the next film series as part of the "Transformers Cinematic Universe" and revealed the temporary logos for the next two films which was announced a few months ago. The TCU was already unofficially in place after the last year's Transformers Writers Room created a blue print for Hasbro and Paramount to follow for the next three plus films but this marks the first time they have officially named it as such. The ambitious plan of a movie a year likely means that Transformers cartoons will take a rest for a while since the movies will provide a yearly refresh of the toy line that Hasbro tends to aim for. The rest of the slideshow from the presentation can be found here.

Paramount: A Transformers Film Per Year Scheduled

Today Paramount announced the planned release dates for the next Transformers films.

Transformers 5 - June 23, 2017
Bumblebee Movie - June 8, 2018
Transformers 6 - June 28, 2019

Michael Bay is set to direct Transformers 5 with Mark Wahlberg as the star. To maintain that ambitious release schedule, where each film needs about 18 to 24 months each to make, Paramount has pretty much guaranteed Bay will not be directing Transformers 6 (but nothing stopping him from doing TF 7) as Bay seems to like a year break from the TF franchise. This may explain why Transformers: Robots in Disguise is ending after only two seasons. At this point the cartoons exists to fill in the gap between movies and there will be no gap for three years (at least).