The Last Knight Angled As A Springboard For Future Transformers Movies; Check Out High-Res Gallery Of Action Shots

Michael Bay may not be a part of its future, but the director still plans to set up the Transformers franchise in a such a way that it’s prepped and ready for the next director to come along and have a crack at Paramount’s robots in disguise – whoever that director may be.

After announcing that he’s ready to part ways with the series – for real this time – following the launch of The Last Knight, Bay touched on the franchise’s seemingly bright future during an interview with Fandango. So far, Paramount has nailed down plans for a 1980s-set Bumblebee prequel movie and the as-yet-untitled Transformers 6, which is still on course for a 2019 release despite the fact that the studio is yet to nominate a replacement for the outgoing Michael Bay.

And though his much-touted departure will divide opinion across the board, one thing’s for sure, when Transformers: The Last Knight roars into theaters tomorrow, June 21st, it’ll serve as something of a springboard for the future of the series.

This one’s much more about mythology and in terms of storyline, it’s kind of the deeper of all five of them. This movie is much more of an adventure. There are two very strong female heroes in this movie that I like very much and it’s kind of got a different bent on it than we’ve normally done on other Transformers movies. If you watch it closely, there are a lot of ways that this movie can go from here. So it’s basically like a launching board for wherever the series will continue.

Those future-proofing plans can largely be traced back to the moment when Paramount formed a writers room to help flesh out the secret history of Transformers. Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Zak Penn (Pacific Rim: Uprising), Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) were among the many, many screenwriters to pitch their ideas in the proverbial hat, and it seems that after five major blockbusters, Paramount is ready to take Transformers in a slightly new direction in what will surely be the post-Michael Bay era.

He’s not the only one ready to bid adieu to the juggernaut franchise, either, as we learned just yesterday that Mark Wahlberg is ready to hang up his hat following The Last Knight. Joining him on his last hurrah are Josh Duhamel, Anthony Hopkins, Laura Haddock, Isabella Moner, Jerrod Carmichael, Stanley Tucci and John Turturro.

Transformers: The Last Knight deploys into theatres tomorrow, June 21st, and at least based on early forecasts, Michael Bay’s fifth and seemingly final installment in the series is bracing for a relatively soft opening weekend in the region of $70 million.