After the third installment of "The Expendables" premiered last year, certain rumors about "The Expendables 4" have started circulating online, particularly about the film's cast. Recently, Variety confirmed that production will begin next year and that the film will be released the following year.

The website reports that neither director nor cast has been announced, but the movie is expected to maintain its formula of having famous action stars and that it will be produced on a budget of $100 million.

In "The Expendables 3," the franchise added one of the most famous real-life MMA fighters to its cast—Rhonda Rousey. For the fourth installment, it was reported that Sylvester Stallone wanted to cast Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and in a Reddit Q&A, the former WWE star expressed his desire to join the movie and said that he wanted to play a villain.

"I don't want to be on the team and be buddies with them," said Johnson. "I want to hunt every single one of them down."

It was also rumored that WWE legend Hulk Hogan is going to be featured in the film. Speaking to The Star, the wrestler addressed the casting rumors and said that he hasn't spoken with Stallone yet.

"But there's a bunch of people who have thrown my name around and done stuff," he said. "I'd love to read the script. I don't know how many more Expendables they're going to make, so I'd love to be in the next one."

Just like Johnson, Hogan said that he wanted to play "a bad guy again in a Stallone movie."

"It would be a lot of fun," he said.

Meanwhile, Desi Blitz reports that Indian actor Salman Khan is being eyed to join the cast of "The Expendables 4." According to the website, Khan and Stallone have been tweeting each other in the past weeks, which led fans of the franchise to speculate that Khan might be making his Hollywood debut in the upcoming film.

 "The Expendables 4" is slated to premiere in 2017.