New John Rambo Movie Gets Major Filming Update From Studio Executive

Rambo is set to make a huge and genuinely amazing return to the big screen, even without Sylvester Stallone.

The long-running Rambo movie franchise has never known a lead actor other than Stallone, but that’s about to change with the upcoming prequel John Rambo, which is set to star Noah Centineo as a younger incarnation of the iconic character originally introduced in 1982’s First Blood. Though he won’t be on-screen this time around, Stallone is staying involved for the sixth movie in the series, taking on an executive producer role.

Lionsgate is not yet ready to reveal a release date for John Rambo, but the company’s President of International Helen Lee-Kim did recently update the prequel’s status (via Deadline), saying it has wrapped filming, while calling the movie “huge and genuinely amazing.”

Principal photography on the sixth Rambo film began in Bangkok in January and reportedly wrapped in March. Lee-Kim’s positive remarks about the footage shot during that time by director Jalmari Helander echo those of Lionsgate chairman Adam Fogelson, who in an April 2026 Business Insider interview said, “The footage he has shot is extraordinary; it’s the best version of what I thought might be possible.”

Fogelson at the same time offered reassurance to fans who might worry about how the new film will present the character of John Rambo, saying, “You’re going to understand the character that you eventually meet in the subsequent films in a way that feels both entirely respectful of what was created previously and entirely original at the same time.”

Lionsgate’s John Rambo went into production even as Stallone was touting his own prequel movie, which would have used AI to help bring young Rambo to life, a project that was ultimately scrapped. The star revealed in a September 2025 interview with ScreenRant that “[we] procrastinated too long and they took it over and, I hope, you know, good luck.” Stallone also described his idea for showing Rambo’s evolution into a killing machine:

“When he goes to Vietnam, he thinks it’s going to be a three-week hit-and-run, and you see him being tortured and captured, his friends murdered, one thing after another, and [his] life in Saigon. And that’s how I became the way I became, but originally I was bon vivant–that kind of thing.”

John Rambo director Helander has discussed his own reasons for taking on the task of making a Rambo prequel, saying in a statement released at the time of the film’s announcement in August 2025, “I have been the biggest fan of Rambo since the age of 11. It is so surreal to be in a situation where I can actually make my own Rambo movie. The chain of events that got me here makes, in a fantastic way, my whole childhood make sense. I can’t wait to bring the greatest action hero back to the big screen where he belongs.”

Director

Jalmari Helander

Writers

Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani

Producers

Kevin King Templeton, Les Weldon, Michael Disco, Angela Russo-Otstot