The young Rambo has been found. Noah Centineo (The Recruit, Black Adam) has reportedly been tapped to play the iconic action hero in John Rambo, a prequel that will explore the character’s origins during the Vietnam War.
Jalmari Helander, best known for directing the 2022 Finnish action hit Sisu, is on board to direct from a screenplay by Black Adam and The Mauritanian scribes Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani. Production is currently being planned for early 2026 in Thailand.
As reported by Deadline, the prequel will chart the early years of David Morrell’s creation, long before the events of 1982’s First Blood. The original film starred Sylvester Stallone as the troubled Vietnam veteran whose clash with small-town law enforcement sparks a one-man war in the mountains. Stallone went on to reprise the role in four sequels, with the franchise earning over USD$815 million at the global box office across five films.
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Lionsgate, which released the last two Rambo films, is reportedly the frontrunner to distribute the project, although no deal is yet in place.
Passing the headband: Sorry, Ryan Gosling
Deadline reports that Stallone has been informed of Centineo’s casting but remains uninvolved with the project. The actor, who has produced and starred in all five previous films, first learned of the prequel plans earlier this year.
The new instalment will be produced by Kevin King-Templeton, Les Weldon, Jonathan Yunger, and Avi Lerner, with Warren Zide, Trevor Short, and Bonfire Legends’ Dallas Sonnier and Amanda Presmyk serving as executive producers.
Stallone has previously shared who he’d like to see take over the role. Appearing on a 2024 episode of The Tonight Show, the Rocky star revealed that Ryan Gosling was his top pick for a future iteration of Rambo. “I met [Ryan Gosling] at a dinner. Obviously we are opposites. He’s good looking. I’m not. Seriously! Could you imagine me as Ken? It doesn’t work at all,” Stallone joked.
Gosling told him he had been fascinated by Rambo since childhood, often dressing as the character for school and even while on holiday. “If I ever pass the baton, I’ll pass it on to him because he loves the character,” Stallone said, while admitting some might think Gosling is “too good-looking to be Rambo.”
From rom-coms to combat boots
Centineo rose to fame with Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy and has since moved into more action-oriented roles, including Netflix’s spy series The Recruit (cancelled earlier this year) and DC’s Black Adam (where he played DC character Al Rothstein, aka Atom Smasher).
He will soon be seen as Ken Masters in Legendary’s live-action Street Fighter adaptation with a cast that includes Jason Momoa and Andrew Koji.
A new chapter for an enduring action icon
The Rambo series has been a defining action brand for over four decades, beginning with the grounded, small-scale intensity of First Blood before evolving into large-scale, high-body-count warfare in later entries. While plot details for John Rambo remain under wraps, the film will mark the first time the character’s formative years in Vietnam are explored on screen.
No release date has been announced, but with a production start eyed for early 2026, audiences may not have to wait long to see Centineo’s take on one of cinema’s most enduring warriors.
