2027 Officially Has Two Sylvester Stallone Replacements In Franchise Reboots (& They're Totally Different)

Published Sep 19, 2026, 12:20 PM EDT

Padraig is a Senior Features Writer and has been part of Screen Rant since 2017. Padraig is a writer, editor and retired Game of Thrones extra who has been writing about movies and TV online for over a decade. He has also written for The Irish Times, Den Of Geek, Little White Lies and many more. It's pronounced Paw-rick, BTW.

Two major Sylvester Stallone franchises are back in 2027 - it's just that Sly himself won't be appearing in either. There's a healthy selection of Sylvester Stallone franchises to pick from, including Rocky and The Expendables. Stallone was one of the first A-listers to see the value in building series he could return to time and again, so if he had a run of underperformers, a new entry in the Rocky or Rambo movie franchises soon came along.

Stallone appears done with all his major franchises, however. He retired as Rocky Balboa following Creed 2, largely due to disputes with producers. The Expendables 4 was such a bomb that a fifth entry may not happen, and nobody on the entire planet is yearning for another Escape Plan.

Sly is quite busy with his Tulsa King series, but 2027 will see the return of two of his most popular action properties: Cliffhanger and John Rambo. However, while Stallone is attached to the latter as executive producer, he won't appear in the prequel, having retired from the titular role following 2019's poorly received Rambo: Last Blood.

Cliffhanger Is Replacing Sylvester Stallone With Lily James

Demolition Man and Cliffhanger were major hits for Stallone in 1993, after the star had suffered a series of duds. There was talk of a Cliffhanger 2 almost immediately too, but despite several versions being developed, it never came together. The sequel finally appeared to be climbing out of development hell in 2023, when Stallone signed on again as Gabe Walker while Ric Roman Waugh (Greenland) was announced as director.

However, over a year after this sequel was greenlit, it underwent a major overhaul and became a total reboot. It appears the producers failed to secure Stallone's fee upfront, and he eventually walked away. Instead, Cliffhanger 2027 will focus on a new heroine played by Lily James, who must save her father (played by Pierce Brosnan) and sister (Nell Tiger Free) after their mountain chalet is seized by kidnappers.

It sounds like the reboot took the planned Cliffhanger 2 story - which would have made Gabe's daughter the lead - and made it into a remake instead. The new movie does have a strong cast and director (Jaume Collet-Serra) behind it, but it is a shame fans of the original won't get to see Stallone return after all this time.

Noah Centineo Is Becoming Rambo In 2027

The next outing in the Rambo saga will be an origin story, fittingly dubbed John Rambo. This will cover the title soldier's time in Vietnam alongside Baker Team, led by Colonel Samuel Richard Trautman (David Harbour). Outside some harrowing flashbacks in First Blood, the movies have never really explored Rambo's Vietnam service in any great detail, so the prequel will be offer something fresh.

John Rambo is also the title for Sylvester Stallone's director's cut of 2008's Rambo, which restored about ten minutes of character development to the fourth entry.

For the first time in the franchise's history, Stallone has been recast too, with Noah Centineo taking over. John Rambo is lucky to have Jalmari Helander as a helmer also, with the Finnish director's Sisu movies already feeling like spiritual Rambo films. While Stallone doesn't appear to have be creatively involved, the fact he later signed on as an exec producer suggests he's happy with what the prequel is doing with the character.

It also wouldn't be a major shock if Sylvester Stallone filmed a present-day cameo for the film too. If John Rambo works, it will be curious to see what direction future instalments might go in. Outside of remaking First Blood, it's tricky to see where a direct follow-up ventures next, though the Rambo series does have gaps in its timeline, such as what John was up to in the 20 years between the third and fourth outings. Of course, there's a long road (heh) for the prequel to travel before producers even need to worry about the next film.

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  John Rambo

  Release Date

  June 4, 2027

  Director

  Jalmari Helander

  Writers

  Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani

  Producers

  Kevin King Templeton, Les Weldon, Michael Disco, Angela Russo-Otstot

  Cast

  • 

    Noah Centineo

    John Rambo

  • 

    Jason Tobin

  • 

    Quincy Isaiah

  • 

  John Rambo is the sixth movie in the iconic franchise that began with First Blood. John Rambo a prequel set to show the titular character in the Vietnam War.

• 

  Cliffhanger

  Release Date

  February 24, 2027

  Director

  Jaume Collet-Serra

  Writers

  Mark Bianculli, Ana Lily Amirpour, Sascha Penn, Melanie Toast

  Producers

  Neal H. Moritz, Toby Jaffe, Lars Sylvest, Thorsten Schumacher, Lily James, Joe Neurauter

  • 

    Lily James

    Naomi Cooper

  • 

    Pierce Brosnan

    Ray Cooper

  • 

    Nell Tiger Free

  • Franz Rogowski

  Seasoned mountaineer Ray Cooper and his daughter Sydney become targets of kidnappers during a weekend climb with a billionaire’s son. Meanwhile, Ray's other daughter Naomi must overcome her past trauma and rising fears to rescue her family.