Action star Sylvester Stallone is set to return for a Cliffhanger sequel from Greenland director Ric Roman Waugh. Released in 1993, the original action thriller follows ex-Ranger Gabe Walker (Stallone) and his former partners as they are lured to a plane crash site by a gang of international thieves. Cut off from help on the top of a mountain, Walker must put his expert mountain climbing skills to use in order to outwit his captors and save his friends.

Per Deadline, Stallone will reprise his role as Walker in an upcoming Cliffhanger sequel from Waugh. The Good Neighbor and Hunters writer Mark Bianculli will pen the sequel with Stallone's Balboa Productions producing alongside Original Film and Rocket Science. Waugh and producer Neah H. Moritz released statements expressing their excitement for the project. Read what they said below:

Waugh: Growing up with the biggest action films of the 80s and 90s, working on many of them myself, Cliffhanger was by far one of my favorite spectacles. To be at the helm of the next chapter, scaling the Italian Alps with the legend himself, Sylvester Stallone, is a dream come true. It’s going to be a great challenge and blast taking this franchise to new heights, a responsibility I don’t take lightly.

Moritz: I’ll never forget the thrill I felt watching Sylvester Stallone in Cliffhanger. I am incredibly excited to be working with him and Ric Waugh to continue the story of Gabe Walker and introduce this iconic story to a new generation of filmgoers around the world.

What To Expect From Cliffhanger 2

Cliffhanger Sylvester Stallone as Gabe Walker Hanging From One Arm

In 2019, Mortiz originally announced a female-led Cliffhanger reboot with A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night's Ana Lily Amirpour as director and Creed II scribe Sascha Penn writing the script. With over a year of planning including a tour through the Alps for research when announced and the director giving a promising update late last year, this recent news comes as a surprise. Since Stallone is set to return, it is unclear if the current project is associated with what was previously in development. However, Amirpour remains as one of the upcoming film's executive producers.

With little plot details revealed, audiences can only speculate as to what the upcoming sequel will entail. Following the trend of many legacy sequels and reboots set decades after the original film was released, Walker may help set the stage for young characters to lead the story. As Cliffhanger had a definitive conclusion and is by no means a franchise, the sequel may center solely on Walker as he is thrust into one last adventure before retirement, similar to Stallone's final outing in the ring in Rocky Balboa.

Waugh's track record of intense action thrillers proves the director has the skills to tap the classic feel of '90s action movies. Beginning his career in stunt work on films including Last Action Hero and Gone in 60 Seconds, Waugh has a deep knowledge of the genre that will surely give Stallone a sequel worthy of the 30-year-old cult classic. With Cliffhanger 2 firmly in preproduction, audiences will have to be patient to see Stallone back on the mountain once again.

Source: Deadline