Summary

• Megan Fox left the Transformers franchise before "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" due to controversial comments she made in a 2009 interview.
• The fallout from Fox's comments affected her career, leading to fewer high-profile projects and a lighter workload. However, she eventually repaired her relationship with Bay and appeared in his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies.
• Despite her departure from the franchise, there is a possibility that Fox could return in future Transformers movies, as her character, Mikaela, is still alive, and her previous absence wasn't fully explained.

Megan Fox was a huge part of the first two live-action Transformers movies, but why did Megan Fox leave 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 $700 million worldwide. 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 the sudden departure of Megan Fox from Transformers?

Why Megan Fox Wasn't In Transformers: Dark of the Moon

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. She said, "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. Fox has since gone on to regain some of the popularity she lost despite her leaving the Transformers franchise. Megan Fox's horror movies, in particular, are acclaimed.

She even repaired her relationship with Bay. The two worked together years before Transformers: Fox had an uncredited role in Bad Boys II at age 15. After Fox and Bay's fallout passed, she starred as April O'Neil in two of his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. Fox even defended Bay for casting her as an extra while underage in Bad Boys II. Clearly, they've overcome the differences that fueled why Megan Fox left ahead of Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

What Megan Fox Has Done Since Transformers

After the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Fox had a leading role in 2009's comedy-horror Jennifer's Body. After a few years of scoring only minor roles due to the controversy that followed leaving Transformers, Fox made amends with Bay, which saw her cast in his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. She then secured a recurring role in the sitcom New Girl, replacing Zooey Deschanel while she was on maternity leave. Megan Fox also appeared in Netflix's Night Teeth in 2021, a vampire thriller in which she played a villain.

Since leaving the Transformers franchise, Megan Fox hasn't been in as many high-profile projects. She did play a supporting role 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, and Till Death, as a woman who has to survive when killers come for her - all while she's handcuffed to her dead husband. She also stars as a crime boss in 2023's Johnny and Clyde.

Fox did take 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, Megan 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 Megan Fox Transformers issue. 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.

While Transformers (2007) is available to stream through TNT and TBS, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is available to stream on Max. The later installments of the franchise are available on Paramount+.

Will There Be Any More Transformers Movies?

Despite the Megan Fox Transformers issue, Paramount has announced that the Transformers movie, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, is the first of three new installments, meaning the franchise will eventually run up to Transformers 9. Rise of the Beasts stars Anthony Ramos as the ex-military protagonist Noah and Dominique Fishback as artifact researcher Elena. Ron Perlman voices Optimus Primal, and characters like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee return.

The film is set all over the world, including Brooklyn and Machu Picchu. In addition to the likely Rise of the Beasts trilogy, there are so many Transformers projects in development. As for Megan Fox's involvement in the future of the Transformers franchise, she may have patched things up with Bay, but her time in the Transformers 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 Megan Fox could return after her firing from Transformers 3.

Unlike Sam Witwicky, Mikaela Could Technically Return To Transformers

While the Megan Fox Transformers issue is a rather salacious piece of movie history, it is possible that she could show up again in the Transformers franchise. While she was replaced as a love interest for Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), the actress did reconcile with Michael Bay, leading to her being cast in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Sam Witwicky was 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: Witwicky 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. Someone would need to take the time to convince Megan Fox, but the 2020s have proven to be the "never say never" era when it comes to throwbacks. So, while Megan Fox wasn't in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, it doesn't mean she'll never be seen in the universe again, especially since Transformers: Rise of the Beasts provides a reboot to the franchise in the form of a sequel.

• 

  Transformers

  Created by:

  Hasbro

  First Film:

  Transformers (2007)

  Latest Film:

  Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

  Upcoming Films:

  Transformers One

  First TV Show:

  The Transformers

  Latest TV Show:

  Transformers: EarthSpark (2022)

  First Episode Air Date:

  1984-09-17

  Cast:

  Frank Welker, Peter Cullen, Corey Burton, John Stephenson, Jack Angel, Michael Bell, Dan Gilvezan, Casey Kasem, Christopher Collins, Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Mark Wahlberg, Hailee Steinfeld, Anthony Ramos

  Character(s):

  Megatron, Optimus Prime, Starscream, Bumblebee, Mirage, Ratchet, Ironhide, Jazz, Sam Witwicky