For years now, there has been talk of potential prequel series tied to the “Rocky” and “Rambo” franchises.
Talk of a “Rambo” series began almost a decade ago with Stallone in negotiations to reprise his role at the time. Things on what was dubbed “Rambo: New Blood” progressed to a point that FOX ordered it to series in 2015.
However, the project stalled in development as attention turned towards 2019’s “Rambo: Last Blood” film. Around that time, Stallone also announced plans for a prequel streaming project which would explore Rambo’s life before the war.
Now, out doing promotion for “The Tulsa King” series launch, Stallone tells THR that the project’s development is still ongoing and while he thinks it will happen, it won’t be that pre-war young Rambo as he initially thought it would be:
“I think it’s going to happen. I wanted to do it like a Ken Burns documentary on Vietnam, where you drop young Rambo in there, and he’s this outgoing guy, football captain, and then you see why he becomes Rambo. But what they want to do is a modern-day story where I pass the torch. That’s getting close.”
The “Rocky” series talk has all been more recent, with Stallone announcing in 2019 that there are “ongoing discussions” about a prequel television series for a streamer. His conflict with producer Irwin Winkler, which became quite public in recent times, of course, has an impact there.
Stallone said last year he had started working on the script for a prequel streaming series that will take place during the 1960s and run for multiple seasons. Amazon’s acquisition of MGM threw a spanner in the works for a while, but with that complete, it seems the streamer is responsible for the current forward progress on the project:
It may happen again because now Amazon’s involved. It’s pretty close. There’s a side of me that goes: Is this really going to work? Every time you try to do Son of Kong, Son of Tarzan, it doesn’t work. There’s a certain indescribable formula that happens. If I gave you the novel The Godfather, good luck on casting that today. Good luck selling that whole premise today.”
Even if both projects move forward, it’s not clear when either could happen. Stallone himself comes to television with “The Tulsa King,” which is slated to premiere on Paramount+ this Sunday, November 13th.
