On January 29, the X account for the film John Rambo announced that production on the film — a prequel to the Rambo films that starred Sylvester Stallone — had begun, along with a comment from director Jalmari Helander. (More on him in a moment.) That wasn’t the only announcement relating to the action movie in question — as The Hollywood Reporter‘s Ryan Gajewski notes, studio Lionsgate also shared more details about the film’s cast.
John Rambo‘s cast will include Yao, who played Bo Chow in Sinners; Quincy Isaiah, who played Magic Johnson in Winning Time and Tayme Thapthimthong, who played Gaitong on the third season of The White Lotus.
Those actors will join Noah Centineo, who is set to play the title character. Centineo’s filmography includes a leading role in the Netflix series The Recruit, along with supporting roles in everything from Black Adam to Warfare. His next high-profile role will be in this summer’s Street Fighter, directed by Eric Andre Show alumnus Kitao Sakurai.
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And a talking shark helped him reach itSakurai isn’t the only interesting directorial choice associated with an upcoming project starring Centineo. John Rambo director Jalmari Helander’s name may not be familiar, but you might know him from Sisu and its sequel — or Rare Exports, otherwise known as the best Christmas movie ever made.
In a statement posted alongside the production announcement, Helander recounted the experience of seeing First Blood at the age of 11, and gave would-be viewers a sense of what to expect. “This is Rambo stripped down, raw and real — a survival story about endurance, persistance and lost innocence,” he wrote.
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