Chinese actress Li Bingbing joins the cast of Michael Bay’s ‘Transformers 4′

"Transformers 4" Teaser Poster

THE MOVIE: Optimus Prime and Bumblebree return in Transformers 4, the as of yet untitled forth installment of Hasbro’s popular franchise. Michael Bay is directing once again. Mark Wahlberg will be playing the lead character who isn’t a giant robot. Tentative release date set for June 29, 2014.

Updates: Shia LaBeouf has chosen not to continue after the current installment. Variety indicates that Paramount has interest in shooting Transformers 4 and 5 back-to-back.

Via Screenrant, actor Josh Duhamel spoke with E! Online and seemed to confirm rumors that most of the human characters from the original trilogy won’t return – so don’t expect to see Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, or Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

In addition, another source claims that the tone of Transformers 4 will be “darker” like the “last hour of Dark of the Moon.” | Via AICN, Michael Bay reportedly says that Transformers 4 will feature a brand new cast for the human characters and a physical redesign of the returning robots. Also, this will be Bay’s last Transformers movie so the story will help set up Part 5 for a new director. | Is this the first teaser poster?

AICN pulls some more quotes from director Michael Bay, in which he reiterates that Part 4 will feature all new human characters but keep the three previous films as continuity. The next movie will cost about $30 million less than Dark of the Moon and may take place at least partially in space or on another planet. | Collider reports (via Huffington Post) on why Michael Bay decided to return to the series. | Beyond Hollywood speculates that Hugo Weaving will not return to voice the villainous Megatron.

EW reports that Michael Bay has officially confirmed that the star of Transformers 4 will be Mark Wahlberg. | In a TMZ interview (via Collider), Michael Bay states: “The movie will continue four years from the Attack on Chicago; which is in the last movie. So it’s going to still have the same lineage.” | Collider reports that Paramount is apparently hoping to set Transformers 4 in mainland China. | Deadline reports that Michael Bay has hired Jack Reynor (What Richard Did) to star opposite Mark Wahlberg.

The Michigan Film Office, of all places, has details on Transformers 4‘s plot since Michael Bay will be shooting part of the film in Detroit. The synopsis: “…Autobots and Decepticons have all but vanished from the face of the planet. However, a group of powerful, ingenious businessman and scientists attempt to learn from past Transformer incursions and push the boundaries of technology beyond what they can control – all while an ancient, powerful Transformer menace sets Earth in his crosshairs.”

Much like Iron Man 3 before it, Michael Bay’s latest sequel Transformers 4 will be a Chinese co-production. This will involve adding Chinese actors to the cast as well as select location shooting in China. Which Chinese actors or actresses would you like to see join the movie? | Twitch says that the producers will be casting four Chinese actors in the film via…a talent-based reality show on Chinese television. Yeah, there’s no way this could go horribly wrong. | Interestingly enough, Michael Bay has cast none other than Kelsey Grammer (Beast in X-Men: The Last Stand) as Transformers 4‘s human villain, a counter-intelligence agent.

BREAKING NEWS: Deadline reports that Chinese actress Li Bingbing (Resident Evil: Retribution, Triple Tap) had been added to the Transformers 4 cast. “I am excited to have Li Bingbing join our cast and to be shooting portions of the movie in her native China. I have always aspired to work with the best actors and this cast is especially exciting now with the addition of Li,” said Michael Bay.