Mark Wahlberg Might Be the New ‘Six Million Dollar Man’

Mark Wahlberg in Transformers

Here’s something we didn’t see coming, but would make perfect sense. The Tracking Board has reported a rumor that Mark Wahlberg might play the lead in a Universal Pictures remake of The Six Million Dollar Man.

The 1970s TV show centers around former astronaut Steve Austin, whose body is rebuilt into a “bionic man” after injury. Austin works for the fictional government office OSI—which stands for Office of Scientific Intelligence, of course. The series’ title comes from the cost of Austin’s procedure.

Though the casting of Wahlberg is just a rumor, the idea of Marky Mark playing a cyborg makes plenty of sense at the moment, considering the worldwide box office success of Transformers 4. So far, the movie has banked more than $500 million, and the natural progression would be for us to find out what happens when Cade Yeager becomes part-Autobot.

Plus, as Cinema Blend notes, when you think about who else has been in the running to play Steve Austin in previous years—Jim Carrey, Leonardo DiCaprio—action star Wahlberg would clearly be the best casting choice.

The Six Million Dollar Man TV show was based on the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin and ran for five seasons from 1974 to 1978 on ABC, starring Lee Majors as Steve Austin, and a spinoff, The Bionic Woman, aired from ’76 to ’78. A short-lived remake of The Bionic Woman aired in 2007.