Rumor: Will 'Transformers 4' Have A Female Protagonist?

Michael Bay's Transformers film franchise has always been pretty upfront about its male-centric perspective, right down to the totally gratuitous opening shot of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's ass in Dark of the Moon. But now that Transformers 4 is looking to pick up an all-new human cast, it appears that they're getting ready to shake things up in a big way.

A casting call making the rounds suggests that the upcoming sequel could actually have a female protagonist, with a car-loving male as her love interest. Imagine that. Read more after the jump.

The new female lead that they are looking for is a high school senior and her boyfriend a Texas racing driver.

The specific wording indicate that the girl will be the main character — note that the charcters are listed as "a high school senior and her boyfriend," not "a Texas racing driver and his girlfriend." On the other hand, this could just be clumsy phrasing. Huntington-Whiteley and Megan Fox were what you'd call the "female leads" of the previous Transformers films, but both were little more than eye candy for Shia LaBeouf's protagonist.

If it's the former, hats off to Bay and his team. Replacing Sam Witwicky with a young woman seems like a far more inspired choice than just subbing in a cheaper, less famous version of LaBeouf. Not because a female protagonist is inherently more interesting, but because it shows the filmmakers are actually trying to bring a fresh angle to the story and characters. Besides, if the object of Transformers 4 is to goose up toy sales, this could be a good way to appeal to little girls.

And either way, it seems boys don't have to worry about getting left out of the series. The boyfriend's choice of profession implies he'll play an important role in the plot, and that the new robot cast we've heard about will feature at least a few NASCAR-inspired Transformers among them.

Transformers 4 opens June 27, 2014.