Transformers: What Happened To Sam Witwicky & Why We Won't See His Return
The "Transformers" franchise first came to live action under the supervision of action director Michael Bay, who made the 2007 film "Transformers." Alongside the Autobots and Decepticons, the two human leads were Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox). LaBeouf appeared in the next two films, before Mark Wahlberg took over the lead human role in "Transformers: Age of Extinction," playing a new character named Cade Yeager.
In the 2017 film "Transformers: The Last Knight," Professor Viviane Wembly, played by Laura Haddock, is told by Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins) that she is the last of the Witwicky family lineage. The lineage is particularly important because they're descendants of the Arthurian wizard Merlin, whose staff is key to stopping the attack from Cybertron, and can only be activated by a descendant.
During the explanation of the family line, Burton shows a family tree of the Witwicky family, which ends with Sam. Given his assertion of Wembly being the last surviving member of the lineage, this establishes that Sam himself is now dead in the movie's timeline. There is no indication of how or when Sam met his demise.
LaBeouf has spoken about his time on the franchise and why he left
In an interview with Associated Press in 2011, Shia LaBeouf revealed that he thought his time with the "Transformers" franchise was done, as he didn't feel like his character Sam Witwicky had anywhere to go after his arc in the third film.
"I'm sure they're making more of them, it's still a very hot franchise...I just don't know if I have anything to contribute," LaBeouf said, adding that "I love making them. I love the crew, I love Michael [Bay], I love the cast, I love Sam, I like doing it. But I don't have anything new to contribute, and I don't think there's anywhere to take Sam."
In an interview with Esquire in 2018, LaBeouf was more open about his departure. He noted that he felt the films were creatively unfulfilling, and wouldn't stand the test of time. "My hang-up with those films was that they felt irrelevant. They felt dated," he told the magazine. He added that he wanted to do more substantial films, such as "Easy Rider" and "Raging Bull." "It's very hard to keep doing what you're doing when you feel like it's the antithesis of your purpose on this planet," LaBeouf concluded.
The comments suggest that, despite the reins of the films having passed on from Bay, LaBeouf is unlikely to ever return to the "Transformers" franchise.