Noah Centineo Eyes Legendary’s Gundam Movie Opposite Sydney Sweeney

Legendary is clearly vibing with Noah Centineo right now. He just locked in one big gig with them and is circling another. And yes, both involve beloved nerd franchises and a lot of punching.

Noah Centineo keeps stacking action roles

Centineo is already on set for Legendary’s live-action Street Fighter, playing Ken Masters — the blond, North American Ansatsuken-style fighter with the fire kicks. Now he’s in talks to jump straight from that into Gundam, Legendary’s long-percolating live-action take on the giant-mech icon. If the deal closes, he’ll co-star opposite Sydney Sweeney, who’s set to lead the film. Sweeney’s coming off Anyone But You and Euphoria, with The Housemaid also on her resume.

What this Gundam movie actually looks like

• Director/writer: Jim Mickle, who created the Sweet Tooth series for Netflix (based on Jeff Lemire’s Vertigo comic). Mickle’s genre track record: Stake Land (cult-fave, post-apocalyptic vampires), We Are What We Are, Cold in July, and In the Shadow of the Moon. He also developed the Joe R. Lansdale-inspired Hap and Leonard, which ran three seasons.
• Producers: Mickle is producing with Linda Moran via their Nightshade banner.
• Partners: Co-developed by Legendary and Bandai Namco Filmworks.
• Franchise DNA: Gundam was created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise and basically defined the real-robot corner of sci-fi: sprawling space-opera warfare, towering mobile suits, and space colonies fighting for independence from Earth. Over decades it’s spawned dozens of TV series, video games, manga, and a mountain of merch.
• Cast so far: Sydney Sweeney leading; Centineo in talks to join.

The project’s winding path to the screen

This one has been in development since 2021, when Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kong: Skull Island) was steering a Gundam movie for Legendary and Netflix. They even dropped concept art of a giant mobile suit to signal it was real. Then Vogt-Roberts and Netflix exited, and Legendary kept the lights on, ultimately handing the film to Mickle. Classic development shuffle, but the project never died.

Meanwhile, Centineo might become young Rambo

On top of Street Fighter and Gundam, Centineo is also in talks to play a young John Rambo for Millennium Media. It’s an origins film directed by Jalmari Helander (Sisu), from a script by Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani. Plot specifics are under wraps, but the angle sounds like Rambo’s early military years — before the events of First Blood. The character was created by David Morrell in his novel First Blood and, on the big screen, became one of the defining action roles for Sylvester Stallone.

Bottom line

Legendary seems to be building a steady pipeline for Centineo across some very loud, very fan-forward titles. If his Gundam deal closes, he’ll be hopping from Hadoukens to beam sabers — and that’s not a bad way to cement yourself as a go-to action lead.