Haute 100: Did Micheal Bay Confirm His Return to ‘Transformers?’

Transformer fans you can rejoice. Haute 100 lister Micheal Bay has confirmed he will return to direct the fifth installment of the franchise. However, this will be his last time working on Transformers.

While on press run for Bay’s forthcoming film 13 Hours, Bay told the Rolling Stone he indeed will return to direct the franchise with Mark Wahlberg returning as his star. He said, “J.J. [Abrams] told me, ‘You’re the only guy that could do this.’ But it’s time to move on. One more.” The film is currently in pre-production and is slated for a summer 2017 release.

Bay also revealed, in addition to promoting 13 Hours, he is also in post-production on the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The 50-year-old is producing the cartoon show-turned-movie. It is slated to be released sometime this year.

For those of you unfamiliar with the forthcoming film, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is based off the book 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened In Benghazi written by Mitchell Zuckoff with the Annex Security Team. The book presents, for the first time ever, the true account of the events of Sept. 11, 2012, when terrorists attacked the US State Department Special Mission Compound and a nearby CIA station called the Annex in Benghazi, Libya. It focuses on the security team that attempted a rescue of American ambassador Christopher Stephens. The film adaption stars John Krasinski, Pablo Schreiber, Toby Stephens, David Giuntoli, James Badge Dale, Max Martini and David Costabile.

While working on the film, Bay was contacted by one of—if not—the highest intelligence agency within the United States, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). According to the Daily Beast, a CIA spokesperson admitted that its representatives met with the director, but they claim that it wasn’t to spin the movie in their favor or grant Bay access to information regarding his film, as they did with Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow for the 2012 film Zero Dark Thirty.

13 Hours is slated to be released in the U.S. on Friday, Jan. 15^th.