John Rambo returns in, well, John Rambo. The prequel sees Noah Centineo take over the legendary action role from Sylvester Stallone in Jalmari Helander’s movie. Even though it’s a passing-of-the-torch moment in the franchise, that doesn’t mean it happened in real life – at least not yet.
Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Centineo talked more about the movie. Host Josh Horowitz asked the actor if he had spoken to Stallone about playing the role, but Centineo provided a surprising answer. “Not directly,” he said. “No, not yet. Before the movie, I was in Australia. During it, we were in Thailand and then like days after we wrapped Rambo, I was in Australia again for Gundam. I came home and had a week of family vacation. Now I’m here. But I fully intend on hopefully [speaking to him]. He lives in Florida, I believe, so I want to go and spend some time with him and speak to him.”
Centineo’s revelation is slightly surprising, since Stallone is an executive producer on the film. In March 2026, Stallone even posted on Instagram about the project, stating, “I’m excited to be executive producing [John Rambo], exploring the early chapter of the man before the legend.” Surely, as an EP, he would have met with the star of the movie to provide some guidance and advice on a character he shaped for decades? Alternatively, the EP role is just an honorary title given to him so that he’s involved in the film somehow.
In the world of Hollywood, anything is possible, really. At one point, Stallone wanted to play the role of the younger Rambo himself through de-aging technology, as he revealed to The Playlist. “Everyone thought I was crazy,” he said. “AI is sophisticated enough to go through Saigon to see him at 18 years old and basically use the same image. So it isn’t as big a stretch.”
In terms of his replacement as Rambo, Stallone admitted that it’s an uphill battle. “It’s very, very hard,” he said. “He may do a stellar job, but you’re overcoming this because I went through it with Get Carter. Everyone loves the original, and then you’re always fighting that prejudice.”
Maybe the reason as to why Sylvester Stallone and Noah Centineo haven’t connected yet is because the former wanted to give the latter space to do what he wants with the role. As it is, the pressure is on Centineo to convince as Rambo, and it’s such an iconic part in cinema that it will undoubtedly draw many opinions from viewers and pundits. For Stallone, having been in that position for Get Carter, he likely knows what Centineo is going through after taking the role. Even so, one would think that Centineo would have sat down with Stallone at least once before the movie.
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