Noah Centineo’s Epic Rambo Movie Gets Massive Update

5 days ago 4

Noah Centineo on the red carpet at the SAG Awards

Published Jan 29, 2026, 3:21 PM EST

A cinematic obsessive with the filmic palate of a starving raccoon, Rob London will watch pretty much anything once. With a mind like a steel trap, he's an endless fount of movie and TV trivia, borne from a misspent youth of watching monster movies on TV, perusing the sun-faded goods at the local video rental shop, and staining his fingers with ink from the Video Movie Guide. Areas of interest include science fiction, film noir, horror flicks, '70s disaster pictures, Bond movies, '90s action, giant robots, dinosaurs, super heroes, and the exuberantly schlocky output of Cannon Films. He also enjoys both Star Trek and Star Wars when they're good, and maybe even more when they're bad. As a Canadian, he also has a vested interest in Canadian movies and TV shows, especially the cheesier ones dubbed "Canuxploitation."

An expert on Marvel Comics, he has also written for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, and is a member of the Marvel Research Team. He can frequently be found pontificating on comic-book continuity or bemoaning the misfortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs on his Twitter account.

John Rambo is about to embark on his first mission. The prequel to the Rambo series, depicting the title character's baptism of fire in the jungles of Vietnam, has commenced production in Bangkok, Thailand. The Recruit's Noah Centineo will fill Sylvester Stallone's shoes as Rambo in the new film. The film will be helmed by Finnish director Jalmari Helander, who proved his action bonafides with Sisu and its sequel, Sisu: Road to Revenge. Says Helander, "When I was eleven, I saw First Blood for the first time, and it changed my life. Rambo wasn’t just a film to me—it stayed with me growing up and was a defining influence on why I wanted to become a filmmaker. As we begin production on the origin of John Rambo, we’re going back to the beginning. This is Rambo stripped down, raw, and real—a survival story about endurance, persistence, and lost innocence. It’s an honor to shape this next chapter with deep respect for the character and the legacy, and to bring audiences the start of John Rambo’s journey."

Avengers: Doomsday directors Joe and Anthony Russo will executive produce, while the script is by Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani (The Mauritanian). The production has also added five new cast members: yao (Sinners), Jason Tobin (A Thousand Blows), Quincy Isaiah (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), Jefferson White (Yellowstone), and Tayme Thapthimthong (The White Lotus). There's no word on what roles they'll be playing, or who will portray Colonel Sam Trautman, a key figure from Rambo's past as depicted in the franchise's earlier films.

What Is the 'Rambo' Franchise About?

The series began as a 1982 adaptation of David Morrell's novel First Blood. Directed by Ted Kotcheff (Wake in Fright), the film starred Stallone as John Rambo, a disaffected Green Beret turned drifter. Arriving in the small town of Hope, Washington, Rambo was accosted, arrested, and tortured by Sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy); eventually, Rambo escaped and tore through Teasle and his men, necessitating his old commanding officer, Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna), to arrive on the scene to talk him down. It didn't seem like the kick-off for an action franchise, but the movie was a surprise hit. The character returned in 1985's Rambo: First Blood Part II, teaming with Trautman to rescue POWs from post-war Vietnam, and 1988's Rambo III, where he aided the Mujahideen of Afghanistan against Soviet invaders. In the character's heyday, he also headlined an animated action cartoon, Rambo: The Force of Freedom. After a lengthy absence, Stallone returned to the character in 2008's Rambo, in which he saved a group of missionaries from the Burmese military; and again, after another decade-long hiatus, in 2019's Rambo: Last Blood, which pitted him against a Mexican drug cartel.

Centineo isn't the only actor walking in Stallone's footsteps at the moment. I Play Rocky, a chronicle of a then-unknown Stallone's attempt to sell studios on Rocky, and himself as the movie's lead, is also in the works, with Anthony Ippolito in the lead role.

John Rambo is now in production; no release date has yet been announced. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.