Steven Spielberg Returns to ‘Transformers’ Franchise, Michael Bay in Talks to Direct for Paramount

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Steven Spielberg is returning to Paramount’s cult Transformers franchise alongside longtime producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and with Michael Bay, long a master of mayhem, in talks to possibly direct the next tentpole for fanboys of vehicles.

Spielberg will focus on all creative aspects of the next live-action film based on a Hasbro line of toys. He will also executive produce the eighth live-action installment as Paramount looks to build out the Transformers universe. Bay directed the first five films in the Transformers franchise as he and his team of creators allowed the titans and other techno-creatures to clash amid action sequences spectacularly conceived and executed.

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Bay directed Transformers (2007), Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Dark of the Moon (2011), Age of Extinction (2014) and The Last Knight (2017). Travis Knight helmed the 2018, 1980s-set prequel Bumblebee.

It’s understood Transformers headliner Shia LaBeouf will not return for the eighth installment, and there’s no word on a storyline and other possible casting. LaBeouf played a young Sam Witwicky, a teenager who bought his first car but never expected it to come to life, in the first Transformers movie, and returned for sequels.

Spielberg met with Paramount Pictures co-chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg in August 2025, ahead of the studio having now completed a merger with Warner Bros Discovery. Transformers 8 will be based on a script set in the modern day by Jason Fuchs, with Di Bonventura helping develop and Spielberg reading and signing off.

Spielberg held creative roles for the first two Transformers films that launched the franchise and generated over $5.4 billion in global box office revenue as Hasbro’s toy brand gained a worldwide following.

Di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto and Hasbro will produce.

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