Noah Centineo Poised To Lead Rambo Origin Movie From Sisu Director Jalmari Helander

Having helped immerse viewers in the hell that is war in Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza's gruelling Iraq drama Warfare earlier this year, it appears that Noah Centineo is already getting set to re-enter that particular genre fray — this time as cinema's most infamous veteran. According to Deadline's 'The Dish' sidebar, the To All The Boys I've Loved Before breakout has been tapped to lead the upcoming Rambo origin movie from Sisu director Jalmari Helander.

Back in May, The Hitman's Bodyguard and Expendables action company Millennium Media brought a package — comprising a script from Black Adam duo Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani and the promise of Helander at the helm — to the Cannes Film Festival, pitching their vision for a pre-First Blood set movie digging into the origins of Sly Stallone's bandana sporting one man army. Now, no deals were actually struck on the Croisette in the end, but with interest from Rambo and Last Blood studio Lionsgate fanning its sails and two big names now aboard in the shape of Helander and Centineo, hopes are high that cameras will start rolling on the Rambo prequel by the end of this year out in Thailand.

While Sylvester Stallone is aware of Helander's movie and Centineo's casting as the first non-Sly iteration of the iconic action hero, the franchise talisman isn't expected to have any active involvement in its latest chapter. Rather, it looks like the film is being positioned as a clean break from the series' increasingly fatigued most recent entries, with this one taking us into the Vietnam experiences that made Rambo the man we meet in First Blood. And honestly, given the physicality Centineo has brought to the likes of Warfare and The Recruit, and the no-holds-barred, ultraviolent stylings of Helander's reverse-Nazisploitation splatterfest Sisu, this could be just the shot in the arm that the franchise has been searching for. You have our curiosity Jalmari Helander...