As he prepares to return as Philadelphia boxer Rocky Balboa in the upcoming Rocky spin-off Creed, Sylvester Stallone has officially confirmed that another iconic character of his will be no more.

The veteran Hollywood superstar told Variety that he will no longer be playing the role of action hero John Rambo a.k.a “your worst nightmare” in any future films.

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

The 69 year revealed that he was proud of the more recent installment Rambo (2008) which was set in Burma.

“As an action film, I was very satisfied that it dealt with the Burmese situation. 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.”

The news comes following the announcement that there would be a Rambo TV series, something which Stallone will have no involvement in.

His first portrayal of Vietnam war veteran Rambo came back in 1982 with First Blood, a film that received decent praise by critics and audiences.

The character then returned for two action-packed sequels in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Rambo III (1988), both of which were considered underwhelming despite making big money at the box office. The last Rambo film did fare better with the viewing crowds although there were complaints about its gory violence.

In the meantime, Creed is due out in the UK next week with Stallone currently being tipped to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, forty years after the original Rocky (1976) was released.