Dolph Lundgren Teases Potential Return of Ivan Drago in ‘Rocky’ Franchise (Exclusive)

Dolph Lundgren became a household name after playing Ivan Drago in Rocky IV in 1985. But while Lundgren reprised the role in Creed II in 2018, could we see him again in a future film of the Rocky franchise? PopCulture.com recently caught up with Lundgren for an exclusive interview, who revealed he’s up for playing Drago again if the opportunity should arise.

“Yeah. Why not? I mean, I think it should be the older Drago,” Lundgren exclusively told PopCulture. “I enjoyed playing him old. The director, Steven Caple, who directed Creed II, is a really smart guy. I think somebody like him could take it to another level. Yeah. Why not?”

A new film from the Rocky franchise, Creed III, will be released in November. Lundgren is not scheduled to be in the movie, nor Sylvester Stallone who has been in every Rocky film. However, Stallone released a director’s cut of Rocky IV in November, Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago. Lundgren said Stallone showed him the film, and it reminded him of the first Rocky. 

“It was a little rough, a little rugged, a little more drama, a little darker than… Rocky IV, the original, had that eighties’ glitz, larger than life, to it, which I kind of like the original as well. I think they were both good,” Lundgren said. “I mean, when it came to my character, I think that in the recut, you got to know him a little more as a person. In the original, he was more of this… Like, not even human, kind of like a god of some sort. But now, you get to know him a little bit, that he was more of a victim of the communist system. I thought it was well done of Stallone to put that together.”

For Drago and Rocky IV fans, they can see a deep-fake of Lundgren as Drago in a new set of Old Spice commercials. The deodorant company went back to the 1980s to create two commercials with the younger version of Lundgren to promote Old Spice Sweat Defense Dry Spray Antiperspirants. After viewing the commercials, Lundgren said he has one problem with the deep-fake version. 

“Well, I thought he needed more muscles,” Lundgren stated. “That was my big thing. So I was arguing about that. The face… it took some work to get it to look a bit more like me. I think what we decided was, that it was. What they decided was, it was funny that I’m arguing about the muscles, and they made that part of the campaign, that I’m not really happy, because my biceps were bigger, or whatever. I think it’s amazing technology, how they can do that, and I’m sure in the future, they could do anything. You don’t even have to come to work. Stay at home.”