A Stallone-free restart of the franchise will hit the big screen from the director of Michael Shannon thriller The Iceman

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Rambo is to be rebooted on the big screen in a new film from The Iceman director Aril Vromen.

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Rambo: New Blood will restart the successful action franchise by removing star Sylvester Stallone and replacing him with a younger actor. According to the Hollywood Reporter, production company Millennium Films sees the troubled Vietnam vet turned killing machine as a James Bond type who can be inhabited by various stars.

The script will come from Brooks McLaren, whose forthcoming work includes apocalyptic thriller How It Ends. Israeli director Vromen broke out with 2012 drama The Iceman starring Michael Shannon. His last film was action thriller Criminal, which starred Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones.

The first Rambo film, adapted from David Morrell novel First Blood, was a surprise hit that led to three more films, the most recent of which was released in 2008. A fifth installment had been planned before Stallone announced he was retiring the character.

The film would follow 2015’s well-received Creed which was a reboot of the Rocky franchise, shifting the focus to a younger central character. It also joins Die Hard: Year One, which will follow John McClane in his early career.

The news also suggests that the previous plan of a Rambo TV show, to star Stallone, will now be shelved.