Michael Bay Is Officially Leaving the TRANSFORMERS Franchise, But He's Lied Before

On the heels of this morning's clip of the Transformers: The Last Knight Super Bowl ad, Michael Bay has announced he's officially leaving the franchise...again. He's said himself he would leave almost as many times as there have been sequels to the first film in the series, a fact which he acknowledges in a blog post written to fans...

"It’s bittersweet for me. With every Transformers film, I’ve said it would be my last. I see the 120 million fans around the world who see these movies, the huge theme park lines to the ride and the amazing Make- A-Wish kids who visit my sets, and it somehow keeps drawing me back. I love doing these movies. This film was especially fun to shoot. But, this time might really be it. So I’m blowing this one out."

While he has lied before, it could be very likely that Bay will exit the series with this film. I know there have been big meetings leading up to this film about the future direction of the Transformers franchise and what it will be going forward, and maybe those talks have included putting a fresh face in charge of the series. 

Of course, it's a big job to find a director who can helm a series which has raked in billions worldwide over its lifetime, so if a new director is in talks for the film, we would expect they would be a big name. No one is really coming to mind who could do Transformers better than Bay. Who do you think would be the right fit for the job? Do you really believe Michael Bay is done with Transformers?