Cristo Fernández is making the leap from the AFC Richmond pitch to Cybertron. The breakout star of Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso is set to lend his vocal talents to the role of Wheeljack in this summer’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. This marks Fernández’s first blockbuster voice role in his career and his first feature film part since his brief scene in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. Fernández had no shortage of source material to explore in regards to his Transformers: Rise of the Beasts role, as Wheeljack has been part of the Autobots lore for decades. His live-action debut actually came in 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon where he was voiced by the late George Coe (Saturday Night Live).
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Speaking to ComicBook.com, Fernández noted he made an extra effort to bring his heritage into his version of Wheeljack.
“I know this version is going for the Latino vibe, and the director (Steven Caple Jr.) was really cool with me,” Fernández noted. “That he was telling me, ‘We want to make him very Mexican.’ I just went for it. I’m so grateful that he let me put so much of who I am to the character. I just try to make it my own.”
Fernández’s career is very much just beginning, but his recent filmography credits are evidence that Ted Lasso has helped launch him into mainstream stardom. Even though western audiences are just getting to know Fernández now, he had dozens of Spanish short film credits in the years before Ted Lasso premiered. That said, the majority of those projects were birthed by Fernández himself.
“Most of those credits that you see that are in Spanish, or that all of those IMDb credits that I have, most of them are literally my own projects that I created with friends, that I did short films and I tried to put them in festivals” Fernández revealed. “I created myself some roles, because I never got any role.
“There were always great opportunities when I was living in the UK, but the opportunities will never come through because of my visa and my papers. Ted Lasso were the ones that, regardless, that they just saw potential in me, even though I didn’t have a main big credit with me, was just indie stuff. They gave me the opportunity.”
Fernández’s Transformers chapter opens just as his Ted Lasso chapter appears to be writing its final words. There is no direct confirmation that the smash hit streaming series will end after the Season 3 finale, but all signs point to this latest installment being the end of the show’s core story.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts hits theaters on June 9th. The Ted Lasso Season 3 finale streams on Apple TV+ next Wednesday, May 31st.
