I Can't Wait For Noah Centineo's John Rambo. What We Know About The Action Prequel

I feel like I’ve been writing a lot about Gen X nostalgia lately, and now we know that a new Rambo movie is on the way. This time, we’re getting a prequel to the original film in the series, First Blood, called simply John Rambo. With all due respect to Sylvester Stallone, he won’t be starring as the title character because that simply would be too unbelievable, even for this franchise. In the starring role this time is Noah Centineo, and the director is Jalmari Helander (more on this exciting development below).

We don’t know a whole lot more, but we do know who will co-star with Centineo, and some hints about what's to come based on the early days of the production. Here’s everything we know.

Release Date For John Rambo

As of March 2026, there is no release date yet for John Rambo. In January 2026, Deadline reported that the movie had just begun production in Thailand, so it seems pretty unlikely that we’ll see it on the 2026 movie schedule. However, 2027 does seem pretty likely at this point.

What Is John Rambo About?

This is a big question, and right now, all that's been announced has been in the vaguest of terms. Obviously, we know this is a prequel, so it’ll take place sometime before the events of First Blood, which happened in December 1981. It’s also been hinted that this will follow the young Rambo as he becomes the soldier we know him to be in the Rambo franchise.

Furthermore, in the Deadline article, it was revealed that production on the movie has begun in Bangkok, Thailand, and that some of the announced cast members are Southeast Asian actors. Obviously, this all seems to point towards the movie being set in Vietnam, where Rambo became a killing machine during the Vietnam War.

John Rambo’s Cast

As I said in the introduction, we know that Noah Centineo will be playing the younger version of the character, before he got into trouble in First Blood. We also know who a few other cast members are, and although we don’t know what characters they are playing, we do know the names of some of the people they could be playing.

Noah Centineo

As a Gen Xer, you might suspect that I’d be wary of a younger actor like Noah Centineo (or honestly, any actor not named Stallone) taking over the iconic role, but I think he’s a great choice. The Recruit, which you can watch with a Netflix subscription, was a great show with Centineo in the lead role. He’s also got the highly anticipated Street Fighter reboot coming later this year. I think he’s a great fit for a young Rambo in Vietnam.

Yao

Yao had a big year in 2025 with an important supporting role in one of the biggest hits of the year, Sinners, where he played Bo Chow. The Malaysian actor is one of several Southeast Asian actors in the cast, but who he will play is unknown so far.

Tayme Thapthimthong

Tayme Thapthimthong was a breakout star of The White Lotus Season 3, where he played the occasionally hapless security guard Gaitok. Thapthimthong, who served in the Thai military for several years before becoming an actor, also appeared in 2025’s Alien: Earth.

Jefferson White

Fans of Yellowstone know Jefferson White as Jimmy, the newbie ranch hand, at least in the beginning of the show. He was a main cast member for the show’s entire run; one of the few who survived the murderous show. He’s also in the cast for another upcoming prequel in a popular franchise, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which hits theaters later this year.

Quincy Isaiah

Best known for his breakout role as Magic Johnson in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, Quincy Isaiah is looking to break out on the big screen in John Rambo. Like most of the others on this list, we don’t know who Isaiah is set to play, but one intriguing person from Rambo’s life in Vietnam that we do know of is Delmar Barry. Barry’s family is the one Rambo visits in the opening moments of First Blood, who we discovered died of cancer as a result of exposure to Agent Orange in the war. Could Isaiah be playing Barry? We’ll be sure to update this when we know!

Jason Tobin

Hong Kong native Jason Tobin is best known for playing the role of Young Jun on the Cinemax series Warrior (which is now available with an HBO Max subscription), and as Earl in the Fast franchise.

Jalmari Helander Is Directing

Maybe the most exciting news about John Rambo is that it will be helmed by Finnish director Jalmari Helander. Helander is responsible for Sisu and its sequel, Sisu: Road to Revenge, the latter of which was one of the best action movies of 2025. Herlander proved he really knows what he is doing with the under-appreciated Big Game, starring Samuel L. Jackson, in 2014. If you’re not familiar with his work, I highly recommend any of those three movies. I think you’ll agree that he is the perfect director for a Rambo film.

We’ll be sure to keep this updated as more news about John Rambo comes in, but we can leave it for now on a high note, as Sylvester Stallone, while he isn’t expected to be in the movie, has joined as an executive producer, which tells us that he believes in the project, and that is enough for us to have faith in it.