Since it was announced that the upcoming Transformers: Age of Extinction would boast a different cast from the previous three films, some have speculated that it might re-write the history of the franchise and potentially retcon some elements of the previous movies. Speaking with TheHollywoodNews.com, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura says that the film is a total continuation that acknowledges the events of the other films, but provides a breath of fresh air for the franchise with a kind of stepping off point:
“It’s definitely not a reboot. It’s an interesting question about what you should call it. On a certain level it’s a continuation of the previous stories, in the fact that it acknowledges what has transpired before it. It acknowledges in the last movie, the destruction of Chicago, it’s actually something that carries through the sort of emotional repercussions of that, not unlike 9/11 has emotional repercussions in the real world. In a fantasy world there are repercussions to what occurred.
“That plays into the movie, moving forwards with a totally different human cast, who doesn’t know anything about the other humans, it’s not a reboot, but a continuation, yet you’re continuing with a new cast and group of characters. It was a big decision to do that.
“We miss our friends that we did the first three with, and they were great, and they probably could’ve done more. But the advantage of doing it this way is that it feels almost like a first movie. It’s a very different dynamic than I’ve seen in a movie, I’m very curious. I guess Star Wars did that a little bit, but not so close together, the way we’re doing it.’”
Coming to theaters on June 27, 2014, the Michael Bay film stars Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Sophia Myles, Li Bingbing, T.J. Miller, Han Geng and Titus Welliver.
