'Rambo 5' A Possibility?

'Rambo 5' May Be On Its Way With a New Screenplay

With Sylvester Stallone's penchant for sequels, "Rambo 5" seemed inevitable long before the credits even rolled on "Rambo 4." Stallone has floated a few possibilities over the years. In 2009, he favored sending Rambo across the border to rescue a girl from a Mexican drug cartel, and the possibility that the battered mercenary might even be a sidekick within that story. Later that year, he suggested the series might go into a futeristic direction, with Rambo being sent to destroy a U.S. military installation where elite soldiers were the subjects of savage medical experimentation. Then, talk turned to a prequel, as all talk does these days. But all of these ideas was ditched, and as of last year, Stallone told Empire he was done with Rambo. "I'm about 99% sure there won't be any more. I'm very happy with the last Burmese episode, and another film might be misinterpreted as an unnecessary and mercenary gesture. I don't want that to happen."

But there was a 1% chance, and that was enough. According to FearNet, Conan the Barbarian screenwriter Sean Hood has just submitted a screenplay for "Rambo: Last Stand" to Nu Image / Millennium Films. The script was written at the direction of Stallone, who gave Hood 20 pages of his own idea, and an unknown book to use as inspiration. Hood remains tight-lipped on what the plot is, but says it's not a prequel, a south-of-the-border adventure, or the Rambo-takes-out-Weapon X storyline. He describes it as a "small-town thriller" that echoes "First Blood", but "with the tone of Clint Eastwood's 'Unforgiven.'" With Rambo returning home at the end of #4, there's certainly room to play with those Unforgivenesque themes of personal violence, regret, and redemption that "Rambo" didn't explore too deeply.

"Rambo 5" is not yet greenlit, and Stallone has a busy, action-filled plate at the moment, so it may simmer awhile in rumor and development. But the possibility is there, and Hood is keeping his fingers crossed that his story inspires Stallone to put on the bandanna, and return to one of his most iconic characters. It seems clear Stallone hasn't quite let go of John Rambo yet, and while Hood's story might not be The One -- though that "Unforgiven" name drop suggests that's exactly what Stallone has wanted for his character -- it might be the launching pad for the one that is. We haven't seen the last of Rambo. It's just a matter of how and when at this point.