This week, actor James Franco (who played Harry Osborn in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy) returned to the Cannes red carpet and revealed that he’s already shot a “big studio movie”, which would be his first major studio film in nearly 10 years. While Franco didn’t reveal the film, Variety has now learned that he will star as the main villain in the upcoming Rambo prequel, Jalmari Helander’s John Rambo, starring Noah Centineo as Rambo and David Harbour as Rambo’s commanding officer, Major Trautman.
In 2018, Hollywood stopped hiring Franco after five women accused him of sexually exploitative behavior connected to his acting school. At the time, Franco had just won a Golden Globe for The Disaster Artist and was eyeing an Oscar win too. But the headlines ruined his chances, and even though he called the allegations “not accurate” at the time, Hollywood stopped hiring him almost immediately.
According to PEOPLE, Franco had settled his legal case for $2 million in 2021. But since then he’s mostly shown up in smaller indie films, like Future World, Kin, or The Pretenders. Three films most people have never even heard about.
So, naturally, the news of his return has everyone talking. Everyone is guessing where he could possibly show up after all these years.
“It won’t be ready for this summer, but my guess is it will be end of this year or spring-summer 2027,” he told Deadline during Cannes.
Franco also pointed out that he hasn’t been lying low for the last few years. “It’s not true I’ve been hiding out, I’ve been here the last three or four years running, selling things, and they treat me well, and I get to go and see great movies.”
A few fans are hopeful that they will see Franco again in a Spider-Man sequel directed by Sam Raimi. For a while, there have been rumors floating around about a Spider-Man 4 from Sony, but Raimi himself put those reports to bed. But fans aren’t giving up on the idea of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man returning for more films.
Could Franco somehow return as Harry Osborn? Probably not. He died. Then again, comic book movies have revived deader characters than the Green Goblin’s son.
The news that James Franco has joined John Rambo has been met with some controversy, with many upset. Still, it’s too early to tell if this role will revitalize his career.
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