John Rambo is in, Sylvester Stallone is out. Having been away from our screens for nearly a decade, the one-man army and bandana afficionado is set to receive the reboot treatment in a film cleverly titled Rambo: New Blood.
After four turns as the sweaty-vested Vietnam vet, Stallone is stepping aside for a new, younger actor to step in, and producers are hoping the character has a 'forever franchise' vibe to it, á la James Bond. The screenplay is being written by Brooks McLaren (Line Of Sight, Del Norte, How it Ends), while Ariel Vromen (The Iceman, Criminal) is in place to direct.
The character was created by author David Morrell in the 1972 novel First Blood, and first appeared on screen in 1982's First Blood. A succession of high-octane sequels followed, each sillier than the last – most recently 2008's Rambo.
There had been rumblings a little while back that Stallone was looking to take the character to the small screen. He later dropped out of those plans, and things went a little quiet on that front. He had also previously talked up a fifth movie entitled Last Blood – but after claims that it would shoot in 2015, that also went a little quiet. Here's hoping we haven't seen the last of an elite squad.