Mark Wahlberg Won’t Join Transformers 4 After All

By David Wharton | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Sorry, any Wahlberg fans who were looking forward to seeing the actor sharing the screen with giant, transforming robots. Yesterday word came from Twitch Film that Michael Bay was in talks with Wahlberg to star in the lead role of Transformers 4. It was a rumor that made sense, given that Bay and Wahlberg just collaborated on the body-builder flick Pain & Gain. Unfortunately, it’s not to be; Bay shot down the rumor earlier today.

While Wahlberg won’t be joining the robot franchise, the rumor did spring from a kernel of truth. Bay took to his official webpage to explain that he and Wahlberg are indeed talking about doing another project together, but it is not Transformers 4. It’s a shame, because Wahlberg is a solid talent and his involvement might have actually got me interested in a new Transformers movie, something that hasn’t happened since before I saw the first one.

Even with the Wahlberg casting shot down, Twitch’s original story also contained another tidbit about the next Transformers film. They claimed that the role rumored to be going to Wahlberg would have a teenage child who would potentially become the star of future Transformers films, something that tracked with earlier rumors that the new film would star a teenage female character with a boyfriend who is racecar driver.

Twitch doesn’t specify their sources, so it’s unclear if the plot tidbits were coming from the same place as the Wahlberg story or not. We’ll have to wait and see if the claims about the father and daughter characters prove to be true.