He may have secured Mark Wahlberg’s services for the next Transformers instalment, but Michael Bay knows he needs some youthful fresh faces to bulk out the cast. Because Optimus Prime might be cool, but he’s no spring robot chicken. Which means, of course, we’re now in the Actor Rumour Zone, with lists of possible talents springing up as Bay, Paramount and the casting team whittle down the likely lists.

According to The Hollywood Reporter (and confirming to character whispers that have been floating for a while), Wahlberg will play a guy with a daughter. The young lady in question is dating a racecar driver and it is these latter two roles now being decided.

For the daughter character, Bay is testing Isabelle Cornish (Abbie’s sister), The Last Airbender’s Nicola Peltz, Margaret Quallay and Carrie’s Gabriella Wilde.

For the driver, five guys are up for the part, including Luke Grimes, Landon Liboiron, Brenton Thwaites, Jack Reynor and Hunter Parrish. Of course, there’s always the chance of a dark horse jumping the field. Or Shia LaBeouf in a wig.

Apparently Paramount is looking to lock the contenders down into a three-film deal, which makes sense with the plan to launch a new TF trilogy. And we doubt anyone who gets the roles will shirk the opportunity, because it’s a big launchpad for a burgeoning career if parlayed correctly.

Ehren Kruger is at work on the script and it’ll start shooting next year for a June 27, 2014 release date.