One of the more random castings of recent months has finally happened after director Michael Bay confirmed that Oscar-nominated actor Mark Wahlberg (The Departed, The Fighter) would joined the latest instalment of the Transformers franchise.

Issuing a statement on his official website, Bay revealed that Wahlberg would replace original star Shia LaBeouf as the new lead character for Transformers 4 despite dismissing the rumours about it happening last month.

“Mark is awesome. We had a blast working on Pain and Gain, and I’m so fired up to be back working with him. An actor of his calibre is the perfect guy to re-invigorate the franchise and carry on the Transformers legacy.”

Nothing has been revealed about the plot though it is supposed to be a new-look Transformers film which introduces new robots hence the decision to replace LaBeouf (or LaDouche!) with Wahlberg.

Filming will begin in Spring 2013 with the release date likely to be 2014.