There has been discussion of a Rambo: Last Blood in 2019 promoted as the final installment.
It may still be too soon to rule out the possibility of Stallone returning to the role one more time, despite the actor being 75 years old. Stallone has revived previous franchises thought to be finished, including reviving the Stallone shared a Rambo 6 story concept involving the character’s return to his roots and family on a Native American reservation. On the other hand, given the fact that there were over ten years between 2008’s Rambo and Rambo: Last Blood, Stallone may not be able to convincingly continue in the role if the project’s development takes anywhere near as long. What seems more likely is the possibility of a reboot, with an entirely new actor stepping into the role for the first time in the franchise’s 40-year lifespan.
In September 2019, the same month Stallone shared his idea for a sixth Rambo film, the action superstar also expressed a desire to develop a prequel series for a streaming service. In an interview from November of 2021 (via unmade Rambo show intended to follow his son was developed in 2013 but was ultimately set aside in favor of Rambo: Last Blood. Whether a TV series or a reboot film are made, it is likely a new actor will have to be chosen for the role. Here are some actors who should be considered for the role.
Mark Wahlberg
While Mark Wahlberg may not seem the obvious choice to play John Rambo, he has a long history of playing soldiers, beginning with his first film role as Private Tommy Lee Haywood in the Penny Marshall-directed comedy, Renaissance Man. Wahlberg went on to play a US Sergeant in the Persian Gulf War for Three Kings, Force Recon veteran Bob Lee Swagger in Shooter, and as SEAL Team 10 member Marcus Luttrell in Lone Survivor, the biographical war film about an unsuccessful counter-insurgent mission during the War in Afghanistan. Despite Mark Wahlberg being a few inches shorter than Stallone, he shouldn’t have trouble with the physicality of a role like Rambo. Wahlberg has also perfected the act of brooding in many of his film roles, which could be an asset while playing a soldier who is spurned by society upon returning home from war.
Tom Hardy
Although Tom Hardy is an English actor, he has proved capable of a chameleon-like ability to convincingly adopt accents and dialects. He may even be capable of recreating Stallone’s distinct speech pattern, though that would push the performance into parody territory. Even with his own approach to the character, Hardy would be a solid choice as Rambo. The actor already proved capable of stepping into a popular action franchise reboot after Tom Hardy was cast as Mad Max, a role which he has agreed to return to for additional installments.
Like Wahlberg, Hardy also made his film acting debut playing a soldier, as SPC Lance Twombly in Ridley Scott’s 2001 war film, Black Hawk Down. This was also the same year that Hardy appeared as a soldier in HBO’s WWII miniseries, Band of Brothers. The physicality of Rambo should also be no problem for Hardy, who recently stepped into the action-packed role of Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote counterpart for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Michael B. Jordan
Michael B. Jordan has proved capable of taking the reigns of a successful Stallone franchise, stepping into the role of Apollo Creed’s son in the Jordan repeated the spin-off formula for Without Remorse, an adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel set within the world of the Jack Ryan franchise. A Rambo reboot could even take a cue from the Creed films, bringing Stallone on as the mentoring character of Sam Trautman, originally played by Richard Crenna in First Blood.
Jordan first made his mark in a series of dramatic roles, both in film and television, but has transitioned to more action-based entertainment after being cast in 2015’s Fantastic Four reboot. Although Fantastic Four was considered a failure by many, it did lead to his being cast in another Marvel property, as Erik Killmonger in the highly successful Jordan’s belief that Killmonger wasn’t a villain, he may be the right choice for John Rambo, who is something of an antihero in Morrell’s novel.
Dwayne Johnson
The first three Rambo films were released in the hyper-masculine era of the 1980s when action films were dominated by muscular heroes played by Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and others in the bodybuilder mold. Though the genre has moved away from this somewhat in recent decades, favoring fast action choreography over massive muscles, Dwayne Johnson is the one star who continues to make it work. If the intention was to recreate the essence of what Rambo has come to represent in the action genre, there is no better choice than Johnson. Like Stallone in the 1980s, Johnson has only continued to build his physique, so that the usual superhero padding had to be removed from his Black Adam costume.
A Rambo reboot would also be an opportunity for Fast and Furious franchise. Rambo would give Johnson the opportunity to flex his well-developed muscles in a significant way, reestablishing his place in the action genre.
Adam Driver
Having never appeared in an action film, with the possible exception of his role as Kylo Ren in the Tarantino suggested a First Blood remake starring Driver would be a great film.
Driver may not have the expected physique for an actor playing a role made popular by Stallone, but he would bring a greater dramatic presence. Morrell's novel was much darker than the 1982 film adaptation, with Rambo portrayed less sympathetically in his violent response to conflict after the war. Driver could bring nuance and depth to the portrayal of a PTSD-stricken veteran, bringing the character of Rambo back to his simple origins rather than continuing the larger-than-life character he has become. This would also be a way to deviate from Sylvester Stallone's Rambo, rather than attempting to recreate the 1982 film.
