Noah Centineo is set to don Sylvester Stallone’s bandana in a new Rambo prequel movie, and there’s a reason you may recognize the Netflix star’s name.
Rambo was first conceptualized in David Morrell’s 1972 novel First Blood, and a decade later, he made his big-screen debut in Ted Kotcheff’s action movie of the same name. Stallone led the cast as John Rambo, solidifying his action star status alongside the Rocky franchise.
Four more films of varying success followed throughout the years, the latest being Rambo: Last Blood in 2019. Despite earning just 26% from the critics, it was rated 81% from fans on Rotten Tomatoes.
Although that was the last Rambo movie starring Stallone (the clue is in the name), in May 2025, it was announced that a prequel to First Blood – titled John Rambo – is in the works. And now it looks like the movie has found its star.
Who is Noah Centineo?
Sources told Deadline that Noah Centineo is attached to play the Vietnam War veteran. The 29-year-old American actor has taken on a range of roles over the years, including Peter Kavinsky in Netflix’s To All the Boys franchise.
The year after, he made his debut as the lead character, Owen Hendricks, in the streaming service’s two-season spy show The Recruit.
But this is far from his only TV credit. In fact, as a teen, Centineo played Ally’s crush Dallas in the Disney Channel series Austin & Ally. And from 2015 to 2018, he portrayed Jesus Adams Foster in Freeform’s The Fosters, a role he reprised in the spinoff series, Good Trouble.
Centineo has also made a name for himself on the big screen too, most notably in DCEU’s 2022 film Black Adam, where he acted alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Albert “Al” Rothstein, aka Atom Smasher.
It appears Centineo has been making the move into more serious roles of late, starring in two critically acclaimed 2025 movies: Our Hero, Balthazar and Warfare.
Off-screen, the actor founded Favored Nations in 2019 alongside Josh Heller. The charity functions as a mediator between donors and other nonprofit organizations, which you can learn more about here.
What we know about John Rambo prequel movie
Other than the news Centineo is set to play a young John Rambo, Deadline’s report states that the new movie will be directed by Sisu filmmaker Jalmari Helander, from a screenplay by Black Adam writing duo Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani.
Insiders also told the outlet that entertainment company Millennium Media is planning to start shooting the prequel in Thailand in 2026, although nothing has been confirmed just yet. Similarly, Lionsgate is reportedly the frontrunner to land the rights, but this isn’t set in stone.
Plot details are scarce right now, but we do know that it will be the origin story of the titular character. Funnily enough, Stallone previously shared support for a rather left field Rambo fan-casting: Ryan Gosling.
While Gosling got the seal of approval, Centineo’s pivot toward more intense, serious performances suggests he has the acting chops to portray the formative years of one of cinema’s most enduring action heroes.
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