The cult action returns to the prequel version: it will be Noah Centineo, pop face of Hollywood and Netflix idol, to play the role of the young John Rambo
The news has the flavor of a pop revolution: Rambo is about to return to the big screen, but without Sylvester Stallone. To collect the legacy of the solitary soldier will be Noah Centineo, born in 1996, an Italian-stain-style actor with a good boy gaze and the curriculum that ranges between romantic comedies, cinecomics and TV series.
The project, produced by Millennium Media, will be a prequel: he will focus on John Rambo’s training years, telling his experience in Vietnam, the invisible wounds left by the war and the genesis of that tormented hero who since the 1980s has sculpted the Action imagination. Filming will begin in 2026 in Thailand, directed by Jalmari Helander and the screenplay by Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani.
Noah Centineo, from Teen Idol to Rambo
To understand how surprising this choice is, just look at the Centineo route. Born in Miami, of Italian origins for father, Noah became famous among the youngest thanks to Netflix, where he conquered millions of fans in romantic comedies as every time I have written I love you. The clean face, the disarming smile and the charism from “Good Guy” have transformed him into a social icon and one of the most sought after actors of the new Hollywood.
Yet his career did not stop there: we saw him in Black Adam next to Dwayne Johnson, in the Thriller The Recruit series and will soon be Ken Masters in Street Fighter. Centineo has shown that he wants to shake off the teen idol label and to aim for more muscle and complex roles. Rambo, in this sense, represents his definitive challenge.
A very heavy legacy
John Rambo is not just a cult character: he is a symbol. Created by the writer David Morell and made immortal by Stallone since 1982, the veteran of the green cap has become the incarnation of the soldier broken by the war, icon of resistance and anger. The saga, with five active films, has collected over 800 million dollars worldwide and marked generations of spectators.
Taking the place of Stallone means confronting a myth, with a physicality and a scenic presence that have made school. It is no coincidence that Sly himself, in 2024, had indicated Ryan Gosling as his natural heir. But the manufacturers have chosen to risk: Centineo represents a new generation of, more pop, more flexible actors, capable of attracting not only the nostalgic audience but also young people who grew up with Netflix.
The rambo of our days
The new film will not be a nostalgic operation: the prequel wants to dig in the origin of the myth, telling the Vietnam War and the way in which he forged a man who will become legend. A more psychological rambo, less “machine gun and knife”, capable of also speaking to the 2025 audience, accustomed to more multifaceted and vulnerable heroes.
In this sense, Centineo could be the right choice: he brings with him the freshness of a pop face, but also the will to measure himself with a dark and painful role. It will be interesting to see if he manages to transform his athletic physicist from romantic comedy into that of a soldier broken by the war, ready to write a new chapter of the myth.
Between the past and the future of the Action Cinema
The last chapter of the saga, Rambo: Last Blood, dates back to 2019 and had seen Stallone return to a more twilight role, marked by time. Now the bet is to overturn the table and start from the origins. With Centineo, Hollywood tries to mix two worlds: that of the 80s action, granite and without compromise, and that of the new global stars, capable of dialogue with Tiktok and with author cinema.
If or not, the box office will work or not, but certainly this operation says a lot of our time: the myths do not destroy, recycle themselves. And Hollywood, in 2026, bet on a rambo that no longer brandishes only a machine gun, but also the strength of an actor who made pop his winning weapon.
