Sylvester Stallone is preparing to work on the highly anticipated The Expendables 4. The sequel was starting to get some hype back in 2017, but Rambo 5 and Creed 2 took precedent as Stallone tried to figure out exactly where he wanted to take the Expendables franchise. With that being said, it appears the iconic actor has figured out the direction he wants to go and is busy preparing his next move now that the upcoming Rambo 5 is in the post-production process.

It seems the 4th of July holiday inspired Sylvester Stallone to make his Expendables 4 announcement. "All of those July 4th Fireworks got my mind going! I am starting to cook up The next adventure!" Said Stallone on social media. He posted a picture of himself as Barney Ross looking pretty badass. Fans of the franchise have been waiting on a status update for quite some time now. The last update came in June of last year when it was revealed that Rambo 5 was pushing the Expendables 4 production back to 2019.

However, it doesn't look like a 2019 production start for The Expendables 4 is likely. Sylvester Stallone didn't get into specifics about where he is at in the process, but we do know the actor likes to move fast after making announcements like this. It seems Stallone will craft the basis or outline of the story before handing it off to someone else to shape and mold for the big screen. This seems to largely be his process and he often likes to work by hand, as evidenced by his original written script for Creed 2.

As for the actors who might be returning for The Expendables 4, Terry Crews will not be one of them. The actor has made it abundantly clear he will not work with long-time Sylvester Stallone producer Avi Lerner. The producer reportedly asked Crews to drop his sexual misconduct lawsuit against Hollywood agent Adam Venit, which the actor did not respond to so well. It's safe to say if Lerner is involved, Crews will not be there to reprise his role in The Expendables 4. Lerner himself has been accused of sexual misconduct, so Crews wouldn't even consider working for him anyway.

Sylvester Stallone has had his own problems with Avi Lerner, but they appear to have squashed their disagreement. Arnold Schwarzenegger expressed interest in returning for Expendables 4 back in 2017, but only if Stallone was satisfied with the script. Since Stallone is working on the script and has had a lot of recent success, it seems Schwarzenegger will more than likely find some time in his schedule to jump on board. Dolph Lundgren also seems like an obvious person to return since he just finished working with Stallone on Creed 2. While we wait for more Expendables 4 news, you can check out Sylvester Stallone's Instagram announcement below.