Rambo prequel director says his new action movie will feature a "different" version of the action hero as it explores how he became the character we see in First Blood

Sisu director Jalmari Helander has teased what we can expect from John Rambo, his new prequel movie – and it sounds like we can expect something very different from this depiction of the titular action hero.

"Of course, it's different, because we're gonna start in a place where everything is basically pretty okay for Rambo," Helander tells GamesRadar+. "He's happy and younger and all that, because we are telling the origin story. What would happen to him? Why did he become that kind of dude that we've all seen in First Blood? So it's different."

The Recruit star Noah Centineo will play John Rambo. His casting was announced this past August, with Helander's involvement revealed back in May. The DCEU's Black Adam screenwriters Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani are on board to pen the script, but original Rambo Sylvester Stallone is not involved. The movie will reportedly take place during the Vietnam War.

Based on the novel First Blood by David Morrell, the first movie in the franchise hit the big screen back in 1982 and four sequels followed, the most recent of which, titled Rambo: Last Blood, was released in 2019. Stallone plays a United States Army Special Forces veteran who becomes a traumatized drifter after the events of the war, but uses his elite military skills to take on corrupt cops, drug cartels, and other bad guys.

Helander is best known for directing Finnish action thriller Sisu, which follows a Nazi-hunting gold prospector during the Lapland War of 1944. The movie's new sequel, Sisu: Road to Revenge, picks up with its protagonist two years later, and this time he's up against the Red Army.

Sisu: Road to Revenge hits theaters on November 21. In the meantime, check out our guide to the other biggest upcoming movies on the way in 2025 and beyond.