We’ve known for a while that the designs of the Autobots and Decepticons – and the human cast – of the Transformers franchise are receiving an overhaul for Transformers: Age of Extinction, but it seems that director Michael Bay is also keen on a shift in tone for the fourth instalment, with the director promising that there won’t be any of the “goofiness” that plagued the first three movies in the upcoming sequel.

“I wanted the first Transformers to be very suburban and less cool,” Bay tells Yahoo! Movies. “This is a much more cinematic one. I focused on keeping this one slick. There won’t be any goofiness in this one. We went a bit too goofy [on Transformers: Dark of the Moon].”

So, anyone believe him?

Bay then went on to confirm once again that despite shaking things up, Age of Extinction firmly takes place in the established continuity of the movie franchise: “It feels like a new chapter, this movie. But it’s not a reboot. This movie lives in the history of the Transformers movies, and this one starts three years after the last. It feels fresh.”

Transformers: Age of Extinction is set for release on June 27th 2014 with a cast that includes Mark Wahlberg (Pain & Gain), Jack Raynor (What Richard Did) and Nicola Peltz (Bates Motel), Kelsey Grammer (The Expendables 3), Stanley Tucci (Captain America: The First Avenger), Bingbing Li (Resident Evil: Retribution), Sophia Myles (Underworld), Victoria Summer (Saving Mr. Banks), Titus Welliver (Lost) and T.J. Miller (She’s Out of My League).