Los Angeles [US], May 16 (ANI): Actor James Franco has officially joined the cast of 'John Rambo' prequel.

According to Variety, Francis, who is currently at the Cannes Film Festival, will have a small role in the upcoming prequel. With his casting, the actor will join Noah Centineo's Rambo and David Harbour, who is set to play Rambo's commanding officer Major Trautman.

Directed by Jalmari Helander, the upcoming 'John Rambo' film follows the origin story of the franchise and takes place before 1982's Sylvester Stallone starrer 'First Blood' - the film which started the popular franchise. In the new movie, Noah Centineo will play a younger John Rambo during his days as a soldier fighting in the jungle.

'John Rambo' has currently wrapped production in Thailand.

Besides Centineo and Harbour, the film also features Yao, Jason Tobin, Quincy Isaiah, Jefferson White, and Tayme Thapthimthong.

With a screenplay from Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani, 'John Rambo' is produced by Lionsgate, Millennium Media, Templeton Media and AGBO.

It will be distributed by Lionsgate.

The producer list includes Kevin King Templeton for Templeton Media, Les Weldon and Jonathan Yunger for Millennium Media, and Angela Russo-Otstot and Michael Disco for AGBO.

Sylvester Stallone is attached as executive producer along with Anthony and Joe Russo, Trevor Short, Dallas Sonnier and Amanda Presmyk.

While Stallone famously portrayed the battle-hardened veteran John Rambo across five films, the actor will not appear on screen in the new chapter. Instead, the story will explore the character's life before the events of 'First Blood.'

Announcing Stallone's involvement, Adam Fogelson, chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, previously said the actor's participation brings valuable creative insight to the project.

'Sylvester Stallone knows the character of John Rambo better than anyone, and Lionsgate has had the good fortune of partnering with Sly for more than 20 years on this legendary IP. His participation is the final, critical piece to John Rambo, and we're thrilled to have his involvement,' Fogelson said, as quoted by Deadline. (ANI)