Mark Wahlberg is not in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts despite being the star of the most recent main entry in the franchise. Michael Bay and Paramount brought Wahlberg into the popular franchise with the fourth installment, Transformers: Age of Extinction, where he made his debut as Cade Yeager. The film's success allowed Bay and Wahlberg to re-team for Transformers: The Last Knight a few years later. However, the movie franchise has gone in a different direction with its leads since then.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is switching up the perspective of the Hasbro toy movie franchise by putting Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback in the lead human roles. The movie is also responsible for bringing the Beast Wars characters to live-action at long last, allowing the films to move beyond the Autobots and Decepticons to include Maximals, Terrorcons, and Predacons. It is all part of Paramount's attempts to breathe new life into the Transformers franchise, and there is a very clear reason why Mark Wahlberg is not in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
Rise Of The Beasts Is Set Before Michael Bay's Transformers - So No Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg's Cade Yeager cannot be in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts because the movie takes place years before the events of Michael Bay's Transformers movies. Paramount attempted a soft reboot of the franchise in 2018 with the release of Bumblebee, which starred Hailee Steinfeld's Charlie as a teenager in the 1980s who meets the popular yellow Autobot. The film's modest success prompted the studio to continue making prequels to Michael Bay's Transformers movies. The films that starred Shia LaBeouf's Sam Witwicky and Mark Wahlberg's character took place from the late 2000s into the early 2020s.
It is confirmed that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts takes place in 1994. This means that the movie takes place seven years later than Bumblebee and 13 years before Michael Bay's original Transformers. Since Cade Yeager's story with the franchise did not begin until 2018, Mark Wahlberg is not in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts because his character still has 24 years to wait until he encounters Optimus Prime.
Why Rise Of The Beasts Has A New Cast Rather Than Continuing Bay's Movies
The decision to not bring back Mark Wahlberg for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is bigger than him. It is a result of Paramount's need to push the franchise in a new direction. Michael Bay's movies were very successful, but Transformers: The Last Knight's box office plummeted and became a sign that audiences were starting to lose interest. This was notable as Bay and the franchise producers were considering making several more movies. Still, it did not make sense to continue down this road as the box office dipped, reviews became even worse, and it appeared the franchise was spinning its wheels creatively.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts using a new cast is a way for the franchise to get younger and more diverse too. Anthony Ramos becomes the first person of color to be the lead of a Transformers movie, while he's also in his early 30s, so more movie appearances are possible. The youthfulness of Bumblebee is something audiences responded positively too, so continuing this approach with a new cast makes more sense than having Mark Wahlberg return in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
