Rambo: New Blood (Reboot)

Fox is suiting up for a reboot of “Rambo,” ordering a script for a one-hour drama based on the iconic Sylvester Stallone film franchise.

The long-gestating project, which is executive produced by Stallone and Avi Lerner, plans to pay homage to the movies. Titled “Rambo: New Blood,” it will explore the complex relationship between Rambo and his son, J.R., an ex-Navy SEAL.

Jeb Stuart (“The Fugitive,” “Another 48 Hrs.”) penned the script and is also exec producing the project, which hails from Entertainment One in partnership in Millennium Films. EOne TV exec v.p. of global production Carrie Stein is overseeing the project for the studio. Stuart is repped by UTA, Kaplan Perrone and attorney John Meigs.

Deadline suggests that Stallone might reprise his role of the former Green Beret on screen, although sources tell Variety that nothing has officially been decided. This strategy worked well for the CBS adaptation of the Bradley Cooper film “Limitless,” as episodes that featured the Oscar nominee have given the freshman drama ratings boosts. The series got a full-season order in October.

Fox, however, has not been as lucky with film-to-TV adaptations this season. It’s version of Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report” saw its episode order slashed from 13 to 10 after three under-performing episodes.

Stallone is at work on his fifth “Rambo” movie, titled “Rambo: Last Blood.” He also currently appears as another one of his famous characters, Rocky Balboa, opposite Michael B. Jordan in the Ryan Coolger-directed “Creed.”

ForeverBlu wrote::Blank Stare:

ForeverBlu wrote:So I guess Jai Courtney will play the son in this one too?

RME...

Despite saying for years that he was working on a script for “Rambo V,” Sylvester Stallone revealed in a new interview with Variety that he has no intention of reprising his role as the iconic military war hero.

“The heart’s willing, but the body says, ‘Stay home!,’” Stallone, 69, explained in this week’s cover story. “It’s like fighters that go back for one last round and get clobbered. Leave it to someone else.”

Stallone noted that he was content with where 2008’s “Rambo IV” left the character, which he first played in 1982. “You know when you realize there’s nothing more to pull out?” Stallone says. “As an action film, I was very satisfied that it dealt with the Burmese situation. It had one foot in a current event, the longest civil war in history, 65 years at that time. It was so brutal, which civil war is, I was shocked they even gave me an R-rating. I didn’t want to compromise. I said, ‘This is probably going to be the last decent film of this genre that I’m going to do as a solo act.’ When that was accomplished, I never felt the same willingness to do it again.”

He added: “There’s nothing left. When they asked me to do another ‘Rambo,’ I said, ‘If I can’t do better than I did last time, and I can’t, then why’?”

He’s also not involved in the “Rambo” TV series, which is in development at Fox and focuses on the character’s son. “I don’t want to cast aspersions,” Stallone said, “but it’s delicate to try to replace a character with his son. I’ve seen the son of Flicka, the son of Tarzan, the son of King Kong, the son of Godzilla. It’s a very difficult premise.”

Nu Image/Millennium Films is moving forward on Rambo: New Blood, a reboot of the John Rambo franchise to be written by Brooks McLaren and directed by Ariel Vromen. The original series that kicked off with 1982’s First Blood starred Sylvester Stallone and spawned three sequels, most recently 2008’s Rambo. The new version won’t feature Stallone but will instead star a younger actor in an approach said to be inspired by the James Bond series. The project is in the very early stages and no plot details have been revealed.