UPDATED: Kellan Lutz In Talks To Be An Expendable; Rhonda Rousey CONFIRMED!

If you follow actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone on twitter often, you may have caught his earlier tweets a few months back pertaining to the search for what he calls “NEW BLOOD” for director Patrick Hughes‘ turn at the helm for The Expendables 3. All hints point to what will likely be a return of some of the old Expendables team from the first two films, joined by new members both young and aged, including the return of Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Steven Seagal and Bruce Willis, in addition to Wesley Snipes, Milla Jovovich, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the film’s required villain played by Mel Gibson, with the possibility of Jackie Chan, and the impossibility of Nicholas Cage.

Adding to the hype on Tuesday are reports from The Wrap that actor Kellan Lutz is being tapped for a role. Lutz is no stranger to action films as of late, having had his share of the genre in the teen love story encompassed in the Twilight Saga, as well as Arena, Immortals, and his latest film, Java Heat, currently available as of May this year. Lutz is currently has already wrapped up filming in Bulgaria for director Renny Harlin‘s March 2014 installment of Hercules 3D with actor Scott Adkins, and is also slated to appear in animated form for the Germany October release of Tarzan. At some point or another he is also set to star in an upcoming $15M production titled Tatua, based on a comic book story of an assassin on with a rare blood type that allows him to assemble weapons from his own skin, who is forced apply his skill set when one of his targets kidnaps his son.

Lutz has certainly earned his way up the ladder as Hollywood’s next rising action hero as I predicted a few months ago. And his place among the A-list of blockbuster action heroes certainly solidifies that.

The Expendables 3 opens on August 15, 2014. Stay tuned for updates as they come!