Sylvester Stallone has left such an indelible impression on modern cinema that he has three statues dedicated to his most famous characters. There’s the Rocky monument outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, while two recreations of Rambo stand proud in the Canadian town of Hope where the majority of First Blood was shot, which just goes to show the impact that the 74 year-old’s most iconic roles have had on the world.
Stallone has played both Rocky and Rambo in the very recent past as well, and even picked up an Academy Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category for Creed, making him one of the few individuals to have ever been nominated twice for portraying the same character after getting a nod for Lead Actor way back in 1976 for his first outing as the Italian Stallion.
Rambo’s return wasn’t as successful, though, with Last Blood receiving generally tepid reviews from critics for spending 75% of the running time trying to find out what makes the man tick before descending into an orgy of bloody and graphic violence in the third act. The fifth and presumably final installment managed to turn a profit after edging past $90 million at the box office on a $50 million budget, but it wasn’t the glorious sendoff that folks were expecting or hoping for.
In a recent social media exchange with a fan, Stallone was asked if he had any plans on bringing the headband-wearing Vietnam veteran back to the big screen, and he gave a surprising answer that might have piqued the interest of some television executives.
“Only as a streaming prequel or not at all,” he said.
Does the world need a Rambo prequel starring someone that isn’t Sylvester Stallone? Absolutely not, but the name recognition and potential built-in audience alone means that there would be more than a few companies willing to consider the idea.
