The Bumblebee spinoff opens in U.S. theaters on June 8th, 2018.
Both of those things could factor into not only who signs on for the first Transformers spinoff, but also who Paramount even approaches about the film to begin with.
Paramount confirmed earlier this year that the Bumblebee movie is the first of several planned Transformers spinoffs, to be released in-between the main live-action installments (thus forming the Transformers Cinematic Universe, so to speak).
A Transformers film directed by someone other than Bay will happen at last in 2018, with the release of for-now untitled spinoff that tells the “never heard story” of Bumblebee, everyone’s favorite black-and-yellow Autobot.