Producer Says Transformers: Age of Extinction Is Not A Reboot

is not a franchise reboot, according to producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura. In an interview with The Hollywood News that was primarily about the producer's current film, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Di Bonaventura did talk briefly about the fourth live-action Transformers film:

"It's definitely not a reboot. It's an interesting question about what you should call it. On a certain level it's a continuation of the previous stories, in the fact that it acknowledges what has transpired before it. It acknowledges in the last movie, the destruction of Chicago, it's actually something that carries through the sort of emotional repercussions of that, not unlike 9/11 has emotional repercussions in the real world. In a fantasy world there are repercussions to what occurred. That plays into the movie, moving forwards with a totally different human cast, who doesn't know anything about the other humans, it's not a reboot, but a continuation, yet you're continuing with a new cast and group of characters. It was a big decision to do that."

So it seems that Age of Extinction will take place in the same universe at the previous films, but will simply tell a different story with a different cast. So, not a reboot, but maybe the film will be a thematic sequel while also being a narrative beginning. Or, as comic fans would probably call it, a "jumping on point." Transformers: Age of Extinction is set to hit theaters June 27, 2014.