by: S. Scott Stanikmas

Even though the character died at the end of the original novel by David Morell, John Rambo in the movies is a little tougher to kill. And the character made famous by Sylvester Stallone may be taking his brand of tough to a smaller screen soon.

Deadline reports that the next iteration of Rambo may be a TV show for FOX called Rambo: New Blood. The premise is pretty straightforward – the series will follow “… the complex relationship between Rambo and his son, J.R., an ex-Navy SEAL,” implies that Sly may be around for more than just the occasional cameo here and there.

There’s no word yet on how this impacts the proposed fifth Rambo film, which has been in development for years without ever really settling on what the direction will be. One report says it would be called Rambo: Savage Hunt and see the soldier fighting a genetically engineered monster, while another says it would be called Rambo: Last Stand and see John go up against Mexican drug cartels. Stallone hinted the cartel story was close to being right, except it would be called Rambo: Last Blood and would’ve started filming after Creed.

I enjoy the Rambo films for what they are – mindless, popcorn-action flicks. I just don’t know how well a TV show like this will fare on network TV. Channels like AMC and FX have been pushing the envelope for a few years now and TV has become edgier than ever, but shows on the major networks still play it safer than most.

For now though, this is still just in the planning stages. With all the changes to the next film in the series I wouldn’t be shocked if this stalls out or some major changes are made before we see the final product.