Bay called Wahlberg the “perfect guy to re-invigorate the franchise and carry on the Transformers’ legacy” in a post on his blog Thursday. He previously squashed rumours that Wahlberg was joining the film franchise about warring robots.

Bay worked with Wahlberg on his upcoming film, Pain and Gain.

Bay has said the next film will take a new direction in the series. The first three movies starred Shia LaBeouf and featured Peter Cullen as the voice of Autobot general Optimus Prime.

The third Transformers film, Dark of the Moon, was the second highest-grossing film of 2011.