Titus Welliver has been a successful character for so long that it's unfair to limit him to a single role, but if you were a fan of Lost it's had not to think of his latest news this way: "The Smoke Monster joins the cast of Transformers 4!" According to Deadline Welliver is the latest human to be added to the cast of the giant robot sequel, which is already well underway through production in Detroit, China and who knows where else.
There's no detail on the role Welliver will play, but fond memories of the Smoke Monster aside, his film roles lately seem to fall into some pretty reliable categories-- military types (a cameo in Red 2, Argo, The Town, the Marvel short Agent 47) or tough guys (Promised Land, Man on a Ledge)-- and of course, he's often a combination of the two. The Transformers movies have never lacked for either type, so it's not hard to guess where Welliver might fit into the equation. Hell, with Josh Duhamel probably not reprising his own military role, Welliver could easily play the same part with even more gravitas and we'd all call it an upgrade.
Though the digital robots and Michael Bay's kinetic direction will, as ever, be the main attraction in Transformers 4, the human cast so far is nothing to sneeze at, including Pain & Gain's Mark Wahlberg in the lead role, the man formerly known as Frasier Kelsey Grammar as the main human villain, Stanley Tucci in an unspecified role, and Chinese superstar Li Bingbing, one of the many ways that the Transformers 4 production is linked very closely to China (did you catch how they're turning downtown Detroit into China?) Even the film's unknown lead Jack Reynor turned in a powerful performance in this year's festival offering What Richard Did-- it'll still be a challenge for him to snag attention from the clashing robots, but he's still got room to surprise you.
Transformers 4, which has been rolling out looks at its cars but otherwise keeping the plot pretty much under wraps, is due in theaters June 27 next year. Click that link above to see a whole lot of images of the movie's cars, if you're into that kind of thing. You can also revisit Welliver's turn as the Man in Black on Lost, with a comedic twist, in this video that was shown at Comic-Con in 2011, after the show had wrapped. Spoilers for Lost, but if you know the guy as the smoke monster, you've got to be caught up, right?
