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After being a huge part of the first two live-action Transformers movies, many fans were left wondering why Megan Fox left the Transformers franchise before Transformers: Dark of the Moon. With Steven Spielberg producing, Paramount launched a live-action Transformers franchise in 2007. Michael Bay directed Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky and Fox as Mikaela Banes in the first movie. It was a huge hit financially, earning over $709 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen did even better in 2009, guaranteeing a trilogy. However, the Megan Fox Transformers issue left a dark cloud over the franchise.
Despite Revenge of the Fallen ending with Mikaela professing her love for Sam, Fox did not return. The absence of Fox saw Rosie Huntington-Whiteley join the franchise as Sam's new love interest Carly, with the film only barely explaining that Sam and Mikaela broke up. It was a little jarring to the canon of Bay's Transformers movies, so what exactly caused Megan Fox's sudden departure from Transformers?
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Fox's Controversial Comparison Resulted In Steven Spielberg Calling For Her To Be Fired
Megan Fox's leaving Transformers right before Transformers: Dark of the Moon was a response to a Wonderland interview she did in 2009 where she compared Bay's attitude on set to that of Hitler:
" He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he's a nightmare to work for."
Fox's reps claimed she decided to leave, while reports pointed towards the studio and Bay deciding to move on. In 2011, Bay said that Spielberg told him to fire her after the Hitler comment was made. The fallout of Fox's comments lasted beyond Transformers 3, as she stopped appearing in bigger movies.
Despite Megan Fox's role in The Expendables 4 potentially resolving her mistake, she has said she wasn't eager to return to the spotlight after her controversial statement, which has also undoubtedly played a part in her lightened workload. Bay was quite critical of her work ethic and attitude in the immediate years following these comments, so other directors and studios likely weren't pushing to work with her either.
Fox has said in recent years that she eventually learned the error of her ways. She knows that an apology at the time would've kept a space for her in the Transformers franchise. The actress has since gone on to regain some of the popularity she lost despite her leaving the Transformers franchise, and Megan Fox's horror movies, in particular, are beloved.
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Megan Fox Ended Up Working With Michael Bay Again
Fox Teamed With Bay On Another Action Franchise
While there may have been some controversy surrounding Megan Fox’s exit from the Transformers franchise and how her relationship with Michael Bay was affected as a result, the two have worked together since this alleged falling out. Fox was cast in the role of April O’Neil in the live-action take on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While the movie was directed by Jonathan Liebesman, it was produced by Bay and very much had the feel of his Transformers movies. In speaking of their reunion, Fox told E! Online:
"I've always loved Michael. We've had our battles in the past but even when I've been really outspoken about difficulties we've had, I've always followed up by saying that I have a particular affinity to him. He can be very vulnerable, and he's very likeable and loveable. I've always been very vocal about that as well. But, sometimes we clash because we both have very willful, powerful personalities."
It could be that the press surrounding the alleged bad blood between Bay and Fox was blown out of proportion. However, whatever the truth behind their past conflict, the two artists showed a lot of maturity and professionalism by not letting it get in the way of their future work together. This certainly leaves the door open for more collaborations in the future.
What Megan Fox Has Done Since Transformers
Fox's Post-Transformers Career Hasn't Been As High Profile But She Has Remained Busy
After the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Fox had the titular role in 2009's comedy-horror Jennifer's Body. Along with her participation in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, Fox also secured a recurring role as Reagan in the sitcom New Girl, replacing Zooey Deschanel while she was on maternity leave. Fox also appeared in Netflix's Night Teeth in 2021, a vampire thriller in which she played the villainous Grace.
Since leaving the Transformers franchise, Fox hasn't been in as many high-profile projects. She did play the supporting character Desi in the Judd Apatow movie This Is 40, and she voiced Lois Lane for Robot Chicken's DC Comics special shortly after. Since then, she's starred in the thrillers Rogue as a soldier named Samantha O'Hara, and Till Death, as Emma Davenport, a woman who has to survive when killers come for her — all while she's handcuffed to her dead husband. She also stars as Alana Hart, a crime boss in 2023's Johnny and Clyde.
Fox has taken creative control of some of her projects since leaving the Transformers franchise. She produced the docuseries Legends of the Lost with Megan Fox for the Travel Channel. In it, Fox traveled to different locations to speak with archaeologists and academic researchers about different historical moments that interested her, like the creation of Stonehenge and the Trojan War. The series fell under some criticism because it explored less accepted theories about some of the historical events, but it allows for an inside look at some of the topics that interest the actress.
Despite Fox remaining very much in the spotlight, her acting career never fully recovered from the Transformers controversy. It was Bay himself that secured her another major blockbuster role, ensuring that any bad blood between the two is well and truly forgotten. Still, Megan Fox being fired from Transformers 3 was a major setback for her career.
Will There Be Any More Transformers Movies?
The Franchise Is Still Going Strong
Though it was several years ago that Megan Fox's Transformers departure happened, the Transformers franchise is continues on, with the most recent entry being the 2024 movie Transformers One. In an interesting move, this was the first animated Transformers movie of the modern franchise, and was a prequel set on Cybertron, taking a look at the friendship between Optimus Prime and Megatron.Transformers One also featured a star-studded voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, and Scarlett Johansson.
The Transformers Movie Franchise:
Transformers | July 2007 | $709,709,780 |
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | July 2009 | $836,303,693 |
Transformers: Dark of the Moon | June 2011 | $1,123,794,079 |
Transformers: Age of Extinction | June 2014 | $1,104,054,072 |
Transformers: The Last Knight | June 2017 | $605,425,157 |
Bumblebee | December 2018 | $467,989,645 |
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts | June 2023 | $438,966,392 |
Transformers One | September 2024 | N/A |
Transformers/G.I. Joe | TBA | N/A |
While Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was hoping to kickstart the franchise again, its mediocre box office run put those plans in question. However, a tease in that movie looks like it will pay off with place for a long-awaited crossover between Transformers and GI Joe is reported to be in the works.
As for Fox's involvement in the future of the Transformers franchise, she may have patched things up with Bay, but her time in the franchise seems to be thoroughly over. With at least two more movies in the works over the next few years, though, there's always the off-chance that Fox could return after her firing from Transformers 3.
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Unlike Sam Witwicky, Mikaela Could Technically Return To Transformers
While Sam Was Killed Off In The Franchise, Mikaela Theoretically Is Still Alive
Despite the controversy over Megan Fox leaving the Transformers franchise in the first place, it is possible that she could show up again in the future. While she was replaced as a love interest for Sam Witwicky, he ended up also being replaced by Mark Wahlberg's Cade Yeager for Transformers: Age of Extinction, and there's a big reason Witwicky can't return to the franchise: he is canonically dead. However, Megan Fox's Mikaela is very much alive.
Her absence wasn't explained in Transformers 3 beyond the fact she'd split up with Sam. It's unlikely, but Mikaela could come back in a Transformers sequel without breaking canon. While it is unclear if the franchise has any plans to return to the characters who kicked off the story, the door remains open for the possibility of Fox making a Transformers comeback.
Megan Fox Could Return In A Voice Acting Role
Transformers One Creates An Interesting Way For Mikaela To Return
2024 saw the arrival of one of the most interesting movies in the modern Transformers franchise - the animated prequel Transformers One. Set on Cybertron, Transformers One was an origin story for Optimus Prime, Megatron, and the longstanding conflict that was already well underway by the time Transformers arrived on Earth. While nothing in Transformers One was linked to Megan Fox's position in the franchise, the fact that the Transformers movies are now experimenting with animated feature-films does create an interesting way Mikaela could potentially return.
Depending on how Transformers One fares, it could be that animation sees the franchise expand significantly (similarly to how Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem's success paved the way for a host of existing and planned tie-in shows for the latest TMNT movie franchise). If Paramount chooses to apply the successful modern TMNT model to Transformers, then Megan Fox's Mikaela is a surprisingly suitable candidate to make the jump from a live-action movie to an animated Transformers tie-in.
Since her character is still alive without much being known about her whereabouts, having Mikaela at the center of an animated Transformers movie or TV show would be a perfect way to create a story that ties in with the established canon without risking contradicting or disrupting it. Unlike Sam Whitwhicky, who is confirmed to be dead, Mikaela has simply vanished into obscurity. This definitely seemed strange given how involved her character was with the events of the first few Transformers movies, so an animated tie-in with her character as the central human protagonist would help fill in this gap.
The other reason Mikaela makes sense for an animated Transformers movie or TV show is Megan Fox herself. While she's not the prominent on-screen presence she was when she first appeared in Transformers, she still has an active career that includes voice-work, for example voicing Nitara in the 2023 game Mortal Kombat 1. What's more, she also voiced Mikaela in the 2007 and 2009 game adaptations of Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
There's literally nothing to suggest that Paramount will move forward with this hypothetical idea, or that they're considering animated tie-in shows or further movies like Transformers One that take place within the canon Transformers film universe. However, if this does end up being the direction the franchise takes, having Mikaela as the central character in an animated branch of the Transformers movie mythos would be an intriguing direction to take (and one that would like please many fans of the earlier life-action films).
Transformers
Transformers is a multimedia franchise consisting of movies, TV Shows, video games, and comics. The franchise centers on a race of humanoid robots called the autobots who must protect Earth from the Decepticons. Some of the most popular characters include Megatron, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee. In 2007, the first live-action movie in the franchise was released starring Shia Labeouf.
Created by Hasbro
English (US) ·