Rambo Origin Movie in the Works From the Director of Sisu

Rambo is set to return, with a prequel project in the pipe from Sisu and Big Game director Jalmari Helander. According to Deadline, Millennium Media is currently launching the film – called John Rambo – at the Cannes market.

The Cannes market is an event that runs during the Cannes Film Festival, and it’s where upcoming film projects that are still seeking funding or distribution partners are revealed and exhibited to potential investors. Millennium Media, known for the Expendables and Has Fallen series, was one of the production companies behind 2008’s Rambo and 2019’s Rambo: Last Blood.

Nothing is known about John Rambo’s plot beyond the fact that it will be set during the Vietnam War and serve as a prequel to 1982’s iconic First Blood. No casting has been finalised. Deadline reports that original Rambo star Sylvester Stallone is aware of the project but is not involved at this stage.

The script for John Rambo has been written by Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani (The Mauritanian, Black Adam) and it’s planned to begin shooting in Thailand from October.

As unexpected as a Rambo prequel may be, Helander’s carnage-filled 2023 WWII action film Sisu (which essentially turned John Wick into an elderly Finnish commando and set him loose against Nazis retreating from Finland following the Lapland War) indicates he’s certainly up to the job.

Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.