Megan Fox fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming Indiana Jones in Travel Channel series

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Although she has previously expressed a desire to shift away from acting and pursue her passion for antiquities, many people are still surprised by Fox's involvement in "Legends," to her slight annoyance. "It's interesting, because I've been talking about it for so long, but none of those things are the things people bother reading or retaining," she says. "It's always whatever salacious, scandalous, negative thing that people are attracted to. But it's not a new thing for me: I've been in love with it for a long time." Fox, 32, chats with USA TODAY about the show, traveling with her kids and how shooting "Transformers" sparked her interest in archaeology. Question: How long have you been interested in ancient history? Megan Fox: My favorite class in school was Greek mythology. That's the only class I had of that nature and the only one I ever did really well in. I came from the South, where I was raised Pentecostal Christian, and we did a lot of revivals and exorcisms in my church. So I was also always really interested in other religions and just ancient people in general. I didn't go to college, so it's not like I specifically studied archaeology, but I was always in love with the idea of getting to actually be Indiana Jones, and travel around and really explore some of these mysteries. Everybody has something that they're passionate about and for me, just being near some of this stuff is really special. Q: Aside from the discovery that there were many female Viking warriors, what was the most interesting thing you learned shooting the first episode in Norway? Fox: Learning that women were also merchants was totally new to me, because women haven't been represented that way in our history books. You think of being a merchant as a male vocation but it absolutely was full of females. Also, just the fact that they were burying these enormous long ships underground ... as part of a personal grave, and that was really striking for me. Shooting "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" in exotic locales such as Egypt and Jordan deepened Megan Fox's love for archaeology. Q: How did shooting at Stonehenge compare to filming at the Great Pyramids in Giza for the second "Transformers?" Fox: Well, when I was shooting "Transformers," I was 22 and I wasn't thinking about things the same way as I do now. I didn't have the same ideas and philosophies, and now I would have a totally different appreciation and understanding of it. But shooting (in Egypt), I learned some information that actually sparked a deeper curiosity. There was a seed planted there that (explains) why I pursued this show. Get the Staying Apart, Together newsletter in your inbox. Wisdom and distractions for coping with a world changed by coronavirus Delivery: Tues, Sat Your Email Stonehenge was a totally different thing. We were there at 3:30 in the morning, so it was freezing and misty and spooky and mystical. And I feel like there's even less knowledge surrounding Stonehenge. The Egyptians documented almost everything. They didn't document the building of the pyramids, but we know so much more about them than we know about the builders of Stonehenge.