Sylvester Stallone Hints at ‘Expendables 4’ Coming Soon

It’s been over three years since the star-studded The Expendables action series was in theaters, but director/writer/star Sylvester Stallone hinted this week that a fourth installment could be on the way.

Stallone posted a photo of himself, Jason Statham and Randy Couture from one of the three previous installments with the words “We are the shadows and the smoke, we rise. We are the ghosts that in the night,” written on the photo. He also wrote in the caption, “Just when you thought it was safe to go outside… They’re coming back!”

This is the first good news the sequel has had in a while. Stallone hinted back in 2016 that he wanted the series to return to an R-rating (the third installment was bumped down to PG-13 and received the lowest rating in the series from critics) and wanted Jack Nicholson to play the villain. However in March 2017 it was reported that Stallone was leaving the series after being unable to find a director both he and producer Avi Lerner could agree on. Arnold Schwarzenegger soon followed suit, saying he didn’t want to be involved if Stallone wasn’t apart of the film.

Beginning with the first installment in 2010, the series has become famous for bringing in as many current and former actions stars and athletes to load up the cast. Along with Stallone and Schwarzenegger, cast members have included Statham, Couture, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Bruce Willis, Terry Crews, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Ronda Rousey, Me Gibson, Mickey Rourke, Antonio Banderas and Wesley Snipes.

Stallone has seen a number of his popular franchises resurface over the past few years. He returned to the Rocky series in 2015 with the spinoff Creed, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for his role as Rocky Balboa. Creed II is scheduled for release later this year.

One of his other popular series, Rambo, is set to start filming a reboot in February.