David Harbour has joined the cast of John Rambo, a new action feature set before the events of the 1982 Rambo film First Blood.
Serving as an origin story for the character made famous by Sylvester Stallone, it will star Noah Centineo as the Vietnam veteran who uses his experience to fight corrupt police officers and drug cartels.
Variety reports that Harbour will play Rambo’s commanding officer, Major Trautman, in the film directed by Jalmari Helander.
Also appearing in the film are Filipino-Malaysian actor Yao, who made his Hollywood debut in Ryan Coogler’s Oscar-winning 2025 film Sinners, A Thousand Blows star Jason Tobin, Yellowstone actor Jefferson White and Tayme Thapthimthong, best known for his role as Gaitok in season three of The White Lotus.
Centineo, 29, is a former Disney Channel actor perhaps best known for starring in the To All The Boys... romantic comedy franchise. More recently he played a spy in Netflix’s The Recruit, which was cancelled in 2025 after two seasons.
Stallone played Rambo in five films, starting with First Blood (1982) and reprising the role in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988), Rambo (2008) and Rambo: Last Blood (2019).
Harbour currently appears in the dark comedy mini-series DTF St Louis, having previously shot to fame thanks to his role as Jim Hopper in Stranger Things, and as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
He will reprise his role as Alexei in the upcoming blockbuster Avengers: Doomsday, scheduled for release in December.
Earlier this year, Harbour had dropped out of Tony Gilroy’s drama Behemoth!. He had been due to star in the project alongside Pedro Pascal and Olivia Wilde.
According to the film’s official logline, the plot “follows a musician from a family of musicians who returns to Los Angeles. A love letter to the music of the movies and the people who make it.”
