Since Paramount announced that they would be building a shared universe for the Transformers franchise led by the brain trust of Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg, and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the studio has been actively looking for writers who could write for the upcoming sequels and spinoffs. Akiva Goldsman has been charged with mapping out the future of the franchise, and now Paramount and Hasbro has found the group of writers that will help Goldsman work out the scripts for these sequels and spinoffs.

According to Deadline, The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, Iron Man scribes Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, Pacific Rim 2“˜s Zak Penn, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Lost“˜s Jeff Pinkner are the new team that will write the Transformers expanded universe. More below.

We’ve known that there will be a sequel, that will be produced by Spielberg and Bay, in addition to the shared universe. Eventually more writers will be added. The announcement doesn’t really come as a surprise considering most studios are trying to copy Marvel Studios’ business model. Sony couldn’t pull it off, and Warner Bros. has yet to prove itself.

As to what the Transformers shared universe movies could be about, there are a number of possibilities. But here is what Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner said last month:

The plan is to get these writers to work together as a story trust, with each of them working together on these scripts as a unit before splitting off to write their own scripts.

No word yet on when these entries in the shared universe could be released, but Paramount has said that they are eying Transformers 5 for a 2017 release.

[Source: Deadline]