What Happened To Shia LaBeouf's Sam Witwicky In The Transformers Franchise

The "Transformers" movie franchise is unusually dense with lore, characters, plot, and continuity. Unlike most long-running franchises, which tend to reboot their continuity every so often, the "Transformers" films have oddly prided themselves on keeping at least a loose sense of connectivity between each cinematic installment, making sure that no new film expressly treads upon another movie's events or revisits old territory. While this makes being a fan of the series a generally rewarding experience, it has left the films in an odd position as to where they might be going next. 2017's "The Last Knight," the fifth and to date last installment directed by Michael Bay, left events on a cliffhanger that's yet to be addressed or resolved, while 2023's "Rise of the Beasts," set 23 years before "Knight," seemed to promise a crossover adventure with Hasbro and Paramount's "G.I. Joe" franchise. Last year's "Transformers One" seemed to promise a new path forward by setting its story in the far, far distant past, but its underperforming at the box office may mean that further animated tales of the Autobots and Decepticons may remain on the small screen for now.

Suffice it to say, there are at least a dozen or more dangling plot threads in the "Transformers" cinematic universe, and though any one of them could be picked up in a future film (or not!), there are some that seem highly unlikely. Chief among the latter camp is the reappearance of Sam Witwicky, portrayed by Shia LaBeouf in the first three "Transformers" movies from 2007 to 2011. In that initial trilogy of films, Sam was unequivocally the single most important human character, with so much of the story revolving around and dependent on him. Once 2014's "Age of Extinction" saw no appearance or mention of Sam, it seemed like LaBeouf's wishes to never return to the character or the series would indeed be honored. So why did this unceremonious shuffling off of the character happen, and is there a possibility Sam could ever return? The answer is like the "Transformers" plots themselves: it's complicated.

For those of you who've never seen or only vaguely remember the first three "Transformers" movies, you may think that Sam Witwicky was an incidental protagonist. Or, in other words, that he is a simple human caught up in the years-long intergalactic war between the benevolent Autobots and the authoritarian Decepticons. While Sam and his girlfriend, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox), are indeed a couple of hapless humans who literally stumble into the middle of potentially world-ending events, it's because of their efforts that the Autobots fight so hard to preserve Earth and humanity, especially due to Sam's close friendships with the Autobots Bumblebee and their leader, Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen).

In the first film, Sam is a Chosen One character, destined to play a vital role in the Cybertron war thanks to his great-great-grandfather accidentally discovering Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving) and gaining a vital clue as to the location of the powerful AllSpark energy artifact, which Sam subsequently uses to defeat Megatron. "Revenge of the Fallen" reveals that Sam's exposure to the AllSpark has changed him, affording him visions and clues that eventually lead him and Mikaela to retrieve the Matrix of Leadership, an ancient device that revives a temporarily deceased Optimus. in "Dark of the Moon," Sam and his new girlfriend, Carly (Rosie Huntington Whiteley), are routinely dismissed as anything but inconsequential humans, leading to both Carly and Sam stepping up and proving their worth several times over, helping stop the Decepticons' invasion of Chicago and preventing Cybertron from overwriting the Earth. In each of the three films, Sam is instrumental to the victory of the Autobots; each story and its events are so closely tied to him that he's an inextricably vital part of the "Transformers" saga.

As most who have worked with him could tell you, working with director Michael Bay is not a walk in the park. Add to that the remarkable physical demand the "Transformers" puts on its cast and crew, not to mention the biggest highlight of the films being the extraordinary action setpieces and CGI creations within them rather than the characters and the performances, and you can begin to see why any actor might quickly have their fill of being the star of these films.

Sure enough, LaBeouf was in the press around the time "Dark of the Moon" was in theaters, claiming that the third film was to be his final appearance in the "Transformers" series. In LaBeouf's own words (via The Guardian):

"I just don't think right now there's anywhere to take Sam. I've learned a great deal from Michael, as a person, as an actor, as a person on set. And it's not that I don't enjoy working with Michael. I love working with Michael. I would do any movie Michael wants to do. I just don't think there's anywhere to take it with Sam."

As his statement indicates, LaBeouf's leaving had more to do with him being tired of "Transformers" and his character than him having any major issues with Michael Bay. That famously isn't the case with Megan Fox, who left "Dark of the Moon" at a late enough stage (or was fired, or perhaps some mixture of both) that caused Bay and writer Ehren Kruger to create the character of Carly as a last-minute replacement. Who knows — had Fox walked earlier in the development process, perhaps LaBeouf would've decided to bow out then, too. In the years since his departure from the series, LaBeouf has not minced words about his feelings regarding the "Transformers" movies, meaning that the likelihood of his return has now diminished even further. 

With the departure of LaBeouf and Fox, the "Transformers" series took the opportunity to do a soft reboot with 2014's "Age of Extinction," slotting in Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager along with the character's family and friends for the series' new human protagonists. While that film has more than enough characters and plots to go around, it is an awkward fit continuity-wise to have Optimus Prime and Bumblebee not even make mention of their once-good human friends Sam, Mikaela, and Carly. This could be because, at one stage, Bay wasn't going to return to make the movie, either, and it's possible that it was developed as more of a harder reboot than it ended up being.

Whatever the case, the next (and, to date, last) Bay-directed "Transformers" movie, 2017's "The Last Knight," tried to tie up a few loose ends with the series' lore, bringing back Yeager from the prior movie as well as William Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Seymour Simmons (John Turturro) from the first three films to demonstrate that these movies all share the same continuity. In this spirit, Sam Witwicky is mentioned at one point in the film: as Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins) is informing Yeager and Viviane Wembly (Laura Haddock) about their roles in the shared destiny between Cybertronians and humans, a picture of Sam is seen as part of a history of the Order of the Witwiccans, people throughout history who became aware of the existence of Transformers on Earth.

However, the majority of these figures are deceased, with these people ranging from King Arthur and his knights to Burton, who declares himself the last surviving member of the Order. This seems to imply that Sam has died at some point offscreen, which is a rather ignominious end for what was previously a major lead character — is this Bay having a mean-spirited laugh at his own series and LaBeouf? Or was this reference intended as an Easter egg pointing to Sam's potential reappearance in the future? Given that, to date, no "Transformers" movie has been set in a timeline post-"The Last Knight," the answers are still up in the air.

While the door is still slightly ajar enough to allow for a potential reappearance by Sam Witwicky in a future "Transformers" movie, it's far less likely that LaBeouf himself might appear in one again. That's not just for the original reasons he stated, but also for the fact that the actor has been the subject of numerous public and problematic issues that have all but derailed his life and career. In addition to several public outbursts, arrests, and a history of odd behavior, LaBeouf has been accused of abuse by two of his ex-girlfriends (including FKA Twigs). He was also very publicly let go from 2022's "Don't Worry Darling," and has been the subject of several plagiarism accusations, not to mention admitting to fabricating the truth behind his alleged autobiographical script for "Honey Boy," which erroneously positioned his father as physically abusive.

LaBeouf's first appearance on cinema screens after a two-year absence was in Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis" last year, as part of Coppola's admirable but half-baked idea to try and make his film into some kind of meta treatise on having a dialogue over canceling a problematic public figure. In other words, LaBeouf was hired thanks to his problematic nature and public persona, not despite it. Such stunt casting is not likely to happen again, certainly not with a major high-profile blockbuster like "Transformers." Until and unless LaBeouf cleans up his image in a massive way (and maybe not even then), we have undoubtedly seen the last of his portrayal of Sam Witwicky in the "Transformers" series.