With ” Transformers : Age of Extinction”, Michael Bay gives a new trajectory to his robotics saga. This fourth opus is worn by Mark Wahlberg, who is entering the franchise. But what happened to the character of Sam Witwicky, played by Shia Labeouf?
Transformers : Age of Extinction : sequel or reboot?
Released in 2014, Transformers : Age of Extinction offers an air of renewal to the saga of Michael Bay. After the massive destruction of the city of Chicago in the previous installment, the Autobots and Decepticons are presented as an alien threat and are no longer welcome on Earth. Broke inventor and specialist in robotics, Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) gets his hands on a wrecked truck in an abandoned cinema. Shortly after discovering that it is Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, the hero and his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz) find themselves pursued by special forces led by the fearsome James Savoy (Titus Welliver), determined to eradicate the Transformers.
If he is well a direct sequel of the three previous films, Transformers : Age of Extinction has everything of a reboot, which is fun by the way Michael Bay through a cynical replica of the feature film. Exit Sam Witwicky, the former hero played by Shia LaBeouf is replaced by Cade Yeager, supposed to bring a “more adult” dimension to the saga. Director plays down gritty jokes, introduces new Transformers and the blockbuster actually takes on a more serious dynamic in comparison to its predecessors, while showing itself extremely generous in action.
I love you, me neither
In 2011, the year of release of Transformers 3: The Far Side of the MoonMichael Bay is already saying he wants to make major changes to his franchise, hinting that the spats with Shia LaBeouf are numerous. During the promotion of the film, the director declares about the saga, during an interview for MTV:
It could be rebooted. But not with Shia. He gets grumpy with age, he’s like my little brother but I told him: “I won’t work with you in the future”. He asked me: “Why?” and I said to him, “Because you’re just a curmudgeon”. We put him on a string and he becomes a little devil. Other actors would say it’s a lot of fun, but he’s the complete opposite.
Since then, Michael Bay and Shia LaBeouf have actually no longer collaborated together. The actor moved away from the big Hollywood productions and his career took a new turn with feature films like Lawless men, the diptych Nymphomaniac, American Honey and The Falcon’s Cry. Interviewed by Variety in 2016, he explains be blacklisted by the industry, tackles Steven Spielberg as well as the majority of their collaborations and compares it to a “company”. However, he does not express any resentment towards the director of Rock and even goes so far as to praise it :
Mike is an artist. People don’t realize how amazing this dude is. He must show a little more balls in his projects but he tries to make a difference and become James Cameron. Nobody has that ambition anymore.
Sam Witwicky’s fate revealed
If no news of Sam Witwicky is given in Age of Extinctionsome clues about its evolution appear in Transformers : The Last Knight. For this opus, Michael Bay calls again on Mark Wahlberg but also on other emblematic actors of the saga like John Turturro and Josh Duhamel.
In the film, Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins) assures Vivian Wembley (Laura Haddock) that she is the sole survivor of the Wittwican order. A photo of the hero, who was part of this group responsible for protecting the secrecy around the Transformers, is then visible. Whether the causes of his death are not revealedeverything suggests that Sam Witwicky now rests six feet under…
