The production company Millenium Media is working on a film that would serve as a prequel to John Rambo, Sylvester Stallone’s iconic character from the eponymous five-film franchise, reports Deadline. Noah Centineo, best known for playing Peter Kavinsky in Netflix’s To All the Boys I've Loved Before, has been attached to portray a young Rambo in the film. Jalmari Helander, known for Sisu (2022), has been tapped to direct the film with a script by Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani.

The Rambo franchise began with 1982’s adaptation of novelist David Morrell’s First Blood, and it revolves around an erstwhile US Army Special Forces Soldier who fought in the Vietnam War and is adept in guerrilla warfare, arms and close quarters combat. It has four sequels: Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988), Rambo (2008) and Rambo: Last Blood (2019). The five films had together minted over $800 million at the global box office. 

Millenium Media is yet to find a distributor for the project. However, according to reports, Lionsgate is the most likely contender to get the rights to distribute the film. It has distributed the fourth and fifth films in the Rambo franchise, besides collaborating with Helander on Sisu. Kevin King-Templeton of Templeton Media is set to produce the Rambo prequel, alongside Millenium Media's Les Weldon, Avi Lerner, and Jonathan Yunger.

The makers are yet to reveal plot specifics, but it will reportedly explore young Rambo’s troubling experiences in the Vietnam War.

Centineo’s upcoming projects include director  Kitao Sakurai’s live-action Street Fighter film, co-starring Andrew Koji and Jason Momoa.