Megan Fox quits Transformers franchise

The 24-year-old beauty, who was cast as Mikaela Banes, the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character in the first Transformers movie in 2007, received several award nominations for her breakout role.

She reprised her role in the 2009 sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Together, the two movies raked in $1.5 billion worldwide.

Megan Fox sacked?
However, against popular expectations, Megan Fox will not return for the third film in the franchise.

The film’s director, Michael Bay, was reportedly the one to take the call against Fox.

”He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he's a nightmare to work for.” –Megan Fox on Michael Bay

Paramount pictures’ spokeswoman confirmed Megan’s exit from Transformers, but she refused to divulge any further details.

The studio and the film’s director want to “take the storyline in another direction and plan to cast another actress as the love interest for star Shia LaBeouf,” according to Variety.

The actress’ PR team also said she will not be a part of the upcoming Transformers sequel, but they insist she was the one who decided to opt out.

"Megan Fox will not be starring in Transformers 3," reps for the actress told People. "It was her decision not to return. She wishes the franchise the best."

Not happy with Transformers 2
Megan Fox had expressed displeasure after the filming of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. She said, “I read the script and I watched the movie and I still didn't know what was happening... if you understand it, you may be a genius.”

Fox’s famous brawl with the film’s director
Later, she got involved in a public fracas with Michael Bay. "[Michael] wants to create this insane, infamous mad-man reputation," she said in an interview last year. "He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he's a nightmare to work for."

However, Bay did not react too outrageously on learning about the comments made on him. "She says some very ridiculous things," he said at the time. "And she still has a lot of growing up to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements like that and think, 'Okay Megan, you can do whatever you want.'"

However, through a post on his website last October, Michael Bay had suggested he’s looking forward to work with Megan Fox in Transformers 3.

“P.S. Megan Fox, welcome back,” wrote the director, while announcing the second sequel. “I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture.”