Sylvester Stallone is returning for a fifth installment of Rambo, and this time he will reportedly face down a Mexican drug cartel.
Stallone is currently working on a script for the film, according to a report by Deadline. It is expected to begin shooting in September. Rumors of Rambo 5 have persisted for years. In that time, some have suggested that Stallone would not return at all, while others have stated that he would both star in and direct the film.
Videos by PopCulture.com
It looks like that is half true, as he may not be in the director’s seat this time. Stallone’s reps reportedly wouldn’t confirm his role(s) in the new movie, but Avi Lerner’s Millenium Films has launched sales on the project in Cannes.
The new installment of the franchise will reportedly focus on the daughter of a friend of John Rambo. The young woman is kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel, but luckily, the Vietnam veteran is working on a nearby ranch. In the course of the film, Rambo will be up against one of the border’s most violent groups of smugglers.
Stallone is already riding high in the age of reboots, after 2016’s Creed exceeded all expectations. A sequel, Creed II, is already in production, and now Stallone is looking to capitalize on another historic film property.
First Blood hit theaters in 1982. Based on a novel by David Morrell, it told a singular, emotional story about veteran life and post-traumatic stress disorder that helped change the way America looked at its veterans.
Following that, Rambo spun off into increasingly outlandish tales about a soldier that couldn’t be taken down. Two more movies came out within the 1980s, and a fourth in 2008. Many thought that the franchise was finally at its end until 2016, when Millenium began toying with the idea of a reboot. Instead, Stallone himself will put the fatigues on yet again.
Rambo appears to have inspired some real-life super soldiers, as Robert O’Neill posed in a First Blood t-shirt last month in New York. The former Navy SEAL credited with killing Osama bin Laden posted the photo on Instagram.
“The only guy with a better mugshot than me is Rocky! In the presence of badasses: Rambo and the NYPD!” O’Neill wrote.
O’Neill served in the military from 1995-2012, reaching the rank of Senior chief petty officer. In 2011, as a member of SEAL Team Six, he took part Operation Neptune Spear in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where the team raided the al-Qaeda leader’s compound and killed him. He retired a year later with two Silver Star honors as well, including four Bronze Star Medals. In 2017, he published a book called The Operator, which chronicled his life in the military as well as recounting the Neptune Spear operation.
