Rambo prequel is on the way – and Netflix heartthrob is tipped to play John Rambo
It will be the first film in the franchise not to star Sylvester Stallone as the Vietnam war veteran.
John Rambo looks set to become the latest iconic big screen character to get a movie prequel – with reports suggesting that To All the Boys I've Loved Before star Noah Centineo is attached to play the Vietnam war veteran in a brand new origin story.
According to Deadline, the film will be directed by Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander – whose previous film Sisu was compared to Rambo by some critics – and is expected to shoot in Thailand in early 2026.
At this stage, not many plot details have been reported beyond the fact that the film will follow the character during his days in Vietnam, but it seems likely we can expect more of the high-octane action the franchise has always delivered.
In total it will be the sixth entry in the series and the first since 2019's Rambo: Last Blood, while it will also be the first film not to star Sylvester Stallone in the lead role.
Stallone originated the character in the 1982 film First Blood – which remains by some distance the best reviewed of the bunch – and reprised the role for further instalments in 1985, 1988, 2008 and then the aforementioned Last Blood in 2019.
According to the report, he is not involved in this new project, but has been informed of the casting choice. He is yet to publicly comment on the news.
Meanwhile, Centineo – who played Peter Kavinsky in all three of the popular To All The Boys films on Netflix – has also had movie roles in Charlie's Angels and Black Adam in addition to playing the lead part in spy TV series The Recruit.
He's also had previous experience playing a military man after forming part of the ensemble cast for Alex Garland's Iraq war film Warfare earlier in 2025 – although the new Rambo film seems likely to be tonally rather different to that film.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
