Every action icon is getting a shot at the small screen these days. With a telly version of **El Mariachi announced just yesterday, now comes word that John Rambo could be gurning, straining, shooting and stabbing his way into our living rooms or onto mobile devices with a new series.
Entertainment One has hatched a deal with producer/Sly pal Avi Lerner to develop a new series based on the franchise that started back in 1982 with First Blood, which saw Sylvester Stallone’s Vietnam veteran taking on a corrupt small-town lawman. Since then, John Rambo has returned for 1985’s Rambo: First Blood Part II, 1988’s **Rambo III **and, most recently for 2008’s Rambo.
Planning to figure out the show before shopping it to networks around the world, eOne and Lerner are in negotiations with Stallone to get him aboard in some capacity, which even includes the potential for him to reprise Rambo himself. We’d imagine that, despite his willingness to return to his classic characters, his film schedule would mean he’d mostly pop up in occasional episodes, like a sort of whack-a-Rambo. Still, Lerner seems confident: “I’m excited by the prospect of collaborating again with my good friend Sly for an encore in this next phase of the Rambo legacy.”
It’s not the first time the character has been portrayed on TV: John Rambo appeared in ‘toon form (voiced by someone else) in 1986 for a short-lived series and then in 2008 for a short animated follow-up to that year’s film. Think the idea can work on TV? Sound off below or on Twitter...