Whether or not Quentin Tarantino's proposed First Blood remake actually happens, Adam Driver would be a perfect fit for John Rambo. One of the signature characters of Sylvester Stallone, Rambo debuted in cinemas in 1982's First Blood, based on the novel of the same name by David Morrell. As Rambo, Stallone embodied a PTSD-stricken Vietnam War veteran who would become an icon of 80s action movies and remains so today.
The legacy of Rambo is something Tarantino has also spoken of, stating a remake of First Blood as a possible project he'd be interested in taking on. Tarantino specified that his version would hedge closer to the novel, which had more of a grey conflict with Rambo and Sherriff Teasle, and ended in the deaths of both men. Tarantino would also name Adam Driver as his choice for Rambo.
Following the release of 2019's Rambo: Last Blood, news has emerged of Millennium Media developing various TV projects, including a Rambo series. This makes Tarantino's proposed First Blood remake unlikely to happen, especially with his own self-declared retirement after ten movies that is now nearing. However, Tarantino's suggestion of Adam Driver as a rebooted version of John Rambo would be excellent casting.
Driver hasn't been seen in that many action-heavy roles outside of his portrayal of Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequels, but this could also work to his advantage. In contrast to his killing machine reputation, the entire franchise shows Rambo consistently trying to avoid conflict and find peace before being reluctantly pulled into battle. Both First Blood and Morell's novel emphasize Rambo as a troubled man simply wanting to be left alone before being pushed to his breaking point by Teasle and his gang of bad cops. However, the novel shows Rambo truly snap and go on a far more violent rampage than the film did.
While First Blood captures the essence of Morrell's novel, it and the sequels that followed also made John Rambo a more palatable protagonist, only having him accidentally kill one cop, while the ending was famously re-shot after test audiences reacted negatively to Rambo's death. Driver has the talent to embody a version of Rambo more in the vein of the novel's irreparably damaged soldier, and would be a radically different portrayal of the character from Stallone's. With audiences so accustomed to Stallone's Rambo, Driver would be such an unexpected successor that the reboot would raise immediate interest just by default.
Driver also has a genuine knack for darker and more volatile characters. Stallone's Rambo was certainly a deeply wounded man, but Driver could portray a Rambo with much more of the instability seen in the novel. Driver's talent would make him well-suited for a Rambo whose switch is flipped with all of the restraint seen in the First Blood movie evaporating. With the movie clearly taking Rambo's side against Brian Dennehy's Teasle (a character who almost returned in Rambo 4), Driver's portrayal could also present more of the moral ambiguity seen in the novel between the two. With talk of a Rambo TV series, Stallone's embodiment of the character seems set to have a least one more story, and potentially his last, but for a new take on First Blood that starts from Rambo's beginning, Adam Driver would be an outstanding choice.