Stranger Things star cast alongside Noah Centineo in Rambo prequel

by

David Harbour, known for his role in Stranger Things, is joining the cast of a new Rambo movie that tells an earlier story in the character’s life. Noah Centineo, from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and The Recruit, will be taking on the role of Rambo – a part famously played by Sylvester Stallone.

David Harbour will play Major Trautman, the leader who oversaw John Rambo in the original ‘Rambo’ movies, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The role was previously made famous by Richard Crenna.

Principal photography for the upcoming film, simply titled John Rambo, finished last month in Thailand. The cast also includes Yao, known for his role in Sinners, Jason Tobin from A Thousand Blows and Warrior, and Tayme Thapthimthong, who recently appeared in season 3 of The White Lotus.

The film is directed by Jalmari Helander, a Finnish director known for his action films, including the ‘Sisu’ series which drew comparisons to the ‘Rambo’ movies. This new film tells the story of how the main character first came to be, and is set during the Vietnam War.

Details about the movie’s story are still limited, but it will focus on the character’s experiences during the war. Fans can probably expect the same exciting, fast-paced action that they’ve come to expect from the series.

Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani wrote the screenplay. They’ve worked together before on projects like the TV show Informer and the films The Mauritanian and Black Adam. Sylvester Stallone is an executive producer on the project.

Sylvester Stallone first played Rambo in the 1982 film First Blood, which is still considered the strongest movie in the series. He later returned to the role in films released in 1985, 1988, 2008, and again in 2019.

Despite not being creatively involved in this movie, the action star had previously suggested a prequel idea where he would use artificial intelligence to make himself look like a teenager and reprise his famous role.

He recalled being told people thought his idea was far-fetched, but he explained on the Bingeworthy podcast last year that AI is now advanced enough to realistically recreate someone’s younger self – even finding images from as far back as their time in Saigon at age 18. He felt this made his concept surprisingly achievable.

He also mentioned in the interview that it would be incredibly challenging for Centineo to take on the role.

He acknowledged the new film might be excellent, but explained they’re facing the same challenge he did with the 2000 remake of ‘Get Carter’. People have strong affection for the original, and it’s tough to overcome that initial bias.

David Harbour’s latest role follows his performance as Hopper in the final season of Stranger Things, and he’s also appeared recently in the Marvel film Thunderbolts and the critically acclaimed HBO comedy DTF St. Louis.

He’s also returning to play two famous characters dressed in red later this year: Red Guardian in the film Avengers: Doomsday, and a particularly grumpy Santa Claus in Violent Night 2.

Want to see this content?

This page uses a security feature called Google reCAPTCHA. Before it loads, we need your permission because reCAPTCHA might use cookies and similar technologies. If you want to see the content, please select ‘Accept and continue’ to enable reCAPTCHA.

Authors

Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona writes about film for TopMob, covering new releases in theaters and on streaming services. He’s been with the site since October 2019, and during that time, he’s interviewed many famous actors and reviewed all kinds of movies.

  • Visit us on Twitter

Read More

2026-04-18 15:42