The original “Transformers” gang is getting back together.
Steven Spielberg is returning as executive producer and will oversee the creative direction of the IP, alongside longtime producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, while Michael Bay is in early talks to return to direct, Paramount said Tuesday.
Bay last directed 2017’s “Transformers: The Last Knight” in the franchise.
Paramount Pictures Co-Chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg met with Spielberg as one of their first meetings at the studio following Skydance’s merger with Paramount in August of 2025. Now “Transformers 8” is one of the first big new projects after the Paramount-WB acquisition closed, under the newly formed Skydance.
Should a deal come to pass, Bay would direct the script written by “It: Welcome to Derry” writer Jason Fuchs. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but “Transformers 8” is set in modern day.
Shia LaBeouf is not returning for the new film, TheWrap has learned.
Di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto and Hasbro will produce.
Fuch’s script is one of many in development at the studio as “Jurassic World” writer Derek Connolly is also writing the “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe” crossover movie, based on the Hasbro toy lines for Paramount, The Wrap previously reported.
Spielberg and Bay first worked together on 2007’s “Transformers,” which launched the highly lucrative Paramount franchise. While Spielberg served in a heavy creative capacity on that film and its 2009 sequel, “Revenge of the Fallen,” he stepped back for further installments.
Bay directed the first five films in one fell swoop, and they were massive hits — the first two grossed over $700 million worldwide, and 2011’s “Dark of the Moon” and 2014’s “Age of Extinction” crested $1 billion. 2017’s “The Last Knight,” starring Mark Wahlberg, brought the franchise back down to Earth with a $600 million gross, and after that Bay stepped aside to let other filmmakers have their crack at the IP.
The cheaper, better-reviewed, Travis Knight-directed 80s prequel “Bumblebee” earned $127 million domestic/$471 million worldwide in 2018 on a $135 million budget.
The untitled new movie comes after 2023’s “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” where Anthony Ramos’ character Noah Diaz was offered a job with G.I. Joe in the film’s post-credit scene. That film grossed over $440 million.