On December 6, 2018, Sylvester Stallone stated this would be the last "Rambo" film and that his character would "finally find what he assumes to be peace." However, at Cannes 2019, Stallone countered that he would continue to play the character of John Rambo should this film prove to be successful.
After initial filming was done and the first cut of the movie was put together, it was test screened in the spring of 2019, and following additional photography and re-shoots, different cuts were edited and test screened throughout the next few months, and the movie was still being edited just weeks before theatrical release and before the final cut was done. However, at the last minute, the movie was cut down even further to be shorter and faster paced, which is why the final theatrical cut is barely 90 minutes long and why all the trailers for the film show some deleted scenes and dialogue.
Some versions of the film included an alternative opening scene where Rambo rescues two people from a raging storm, increasing the runtime to 101 minutes with International Releases, while Rambo U.S, U.K, and Canada Releases excludes this opening completely and the film's runtime is 89 Minutes.
Original screenplay by Matthew Cirulnick had more and bigger action sequences - especially in the ending where Rambo fights against many more mercenaries who attack his ranch. This version of the climax was much more of a war battle. However, Sylvester Stallone didn't like how "over the top" the action was and some other parts of the script, so he scaled everything down in his re-write to make it more realistic in order to focus more on the story and characters.
At 89 minutes, this is the shortest film in the 'Rambo' series (especially considering the total screen time of the production logos and end credits is almost 10% of that 89 minutes).