The live-action Transformers films are in something of a soft reboot phase, at least at the time of writing. As a franchise, the series has had quite a few ups and downs but continues to chug along regardless. That said, after a string of films with mixed reception, the series put out Bumblebee, a prequel with very few connections to the previous films, with the intent of letting it be a standalone prequel, and leaving the future of the franchise in a state of uncertainty.
By a cosmic twist of fate, however, Bumblebee ended up being pretty good. Fans really like the more simplified plots, relatable characters, tweaked Transformer designs, and they especially loved the flashback scenes pulled right from the first generation of Transformers. Suddenly this prequel spin-off, meant to quietly come out while bigger moves were considered, had revived interest in the property beyond anyone's expectations.
This left audiences with a lot of questions regarding the Transformers franchise, however. Bumblebee was definitely a prequel of sorts, but was it still canon to the original films? It was difficult to tell, as the timeline seemed to fit, more or less, and some details still referenced the previous films. However, there didn't seem to be much interest in defining the continuity one way or the other, and the new Transformers designs were something of a departure from previous entries.
Unfortunately for fans, Paramount is keeping a tight lid on whatever the plot of the next Transformers film will be, refusing to comment on any rumors or speculation about its connection to other films. One detail that did become public knowledge, however, is that Anthony Ramos, star of the feature adaptation of In The Heights, is being considered for the lead role.
All that is known about this theoretical character is that they are a flawed hero who is hoping to redeem themselves with the help of Optimus Prime. One might not consider giant, talking trucks to be great life coaches, but Prime seems to have a decent track record overall, so it's as good a setup to build the plot around as any. There will undoubtedly be much more to the Transformers film than that, but as mentioned, no one's saying anything this early in production.
Things seem to be starting to fall into place though if the studio already has ideas about who should play the starring role. Whatever this new movie's place is in the overall Transformers timeline, hopefully, audiences will get some more information very soon.
Transformers 7 is in development at Paramount.
Source: Collider