'Transformers 5' news: Michael Bay says film will be his last in the franchise

Mark Walberg in "Transformers: Age of Extinction"Facebook/Transformers

After rounds of rumors and speculations, "Transformers 5" is finally taking shape. Mark Wahlberg has confirmed his return as mechanic and inventor Cade Yeager and Michael Bay has locked in the director's seat for himself once again.

"They did a really good job of going back in time and connecting things and how they relate. Different spin-offs. We have a very talented group of writers and they came up with a lot of very clever ideas," Bay said via Slash Film.

He also revealed that "Transformers 5" might be the final film that he will helm in the franchise, which is being heavily expanded by Hasbro at the moment, "Steven [Spielberg] and I are going to break out some smaller ones to do. I guess this will be my last one," he said.

In a separate interview with Hey U Guys, where he promoted his new film "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi," he admitted that he is "having trouble" handing the robot-packed franchise over to someone else. "It's a tough thing," he confessed.

He compared giving the franchise away to "The Hobbit" director Peter Jackson "giving Middle Earth away" and James Cameron giving away the "Avatar" franchise. That being said, it looks like "Transformers 5" will be Bay's last.

The filmmaker is very coy when it comes to teasing plot details for the film but he did reveal during a chat with WGN Radio that he plans to shoot the film in the Chicago streets, which could mean that there will be tons of explosions and building destructions again.

For a while now, there have been rumors that "Transformers 5" will have greater focus on the Autobots and Dinobots themselves, something that hasn't been done in the previous installments.

There are also speculations that not only will there be more robots to join the fray but the mechanoids' homeworld will also be visited.

"Transformers 5" is slated for a 2017 release.