Sylvester Stallone Reveals His Scrapped AI Rambo Prequel

Sylvester Stallone revealed that an AI Rambo prequel that he was working on was ultimately scrapped. John Rambo has been one of Stallone’s most iconic characters, having first portrayed the character in 1982’s First Blood, then reprising the role in four additional movies, the most recent being 2019’s Rambo: Last Blood.

The character of Rambo is set to return to the big screen, but with The Recruit star Noah Centineo playing John Rambo. The new movie, currently titled John Rambo, is set to be a prequel to First Blood, following Rambo’s time with the Green Berets in Vietnam.

However, Stallone was working on a new Rambo project of his own. In an interview with ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley for Tulsa King season 3 (premiering September 21), the topic of the Rambo prequel came up, and Stallone said he had the idea to use AI to help recreate his younger Rambo before the John Rambo team took the baton.

“I thought, ‘We could this with AI,’ but [we] procastinated too long and they took it over and, I hope, you know, good luck.”

Stallone’s prequel idea would have rewritten Rambo’s history. Rambo would have been the nicest guy in school, valedictorian, and prom king. When he goes to Vietnam, he thinks it’s going to be quick, but seeing the death of his friends, enduring torture, and everything else from his time in Saigon would lead to him becoming the character we know.

What This Means For The Rambo Franchise

Noah Centineo as Owen in The Recruit talking to his girlfriend in a serious tone

Stallone has been actively involved in the Rambo franchise from its inception. In addition to starring in the movies, he co-wrote the screenplay for First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III, directed and co-wrote Rambo, and co-wrote Rambo: Last Blood. However, despite his own newly revealed intentions, Stallone is not involved in the upcoming John Rambo prequel.

This is a changing of the guard for the Rambo franchise, which has been defined by Stallone for more than 40 years. However, if Hollywood wants to keep the Rambo franchise going, a new actor was eventually going to have to take over the role.

The good news is that Stallone does not seem upset about that. As shown in the above quote, he wishes the new production luck. He added that he would be open to speaking with Centineo about taking over the role.

Our Take On Stallone’s Scrapped Rambo Prequel

Rambo looks over his shoulder with a scowl in front of his truck in Rambo: Last Blood

While it is definitely weird that Stallone appears to have no involvement in John Rambo, it would be hard to imagine that an AI-supported Rambo prequel would have been embraced with open arms.

As far as AI has come as a tool, including the ability to de-age actors, using it for a whole movie to create a young John Rambo seems like it could have been pushing it. Not to mention people sometimes just have a visceral reaction to the use of AI in movies and other forms of art.

It would have been interesting to see where Stallone wanted to take the character, but I think there’s plenty of reason for fans to be excited with Centineo taking over the role, with Sisu‘s Jalmari Helander in the director’s chair.