Drago spinoff: Dolph Lundgren potentially launching a new Rocky series at MGM

Dolph Lundgren‘s Drago might be getting back in the ring. Despite having a busy schedule while filming Castle Falls – his first directorial effort since 2010 – Lundgren managed a sit-down with The Hollywood Reporter, in which he spoke about filming during a pandemic, Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky vs. Drago, and the possibility of launching a Drago spinoff with MGM.

Let’s get to the main event right away, shall we? According to Lundgren, MGM may be interested in continuing Drago’s story.

“I thought it was a good moment. It was also a fan moment. It was a quick little fight, and I thought it worked,” Lundgren told THR regarding a deleted fight between Rocky and Drago in Stephen Caple Jr.’s Creed II. “But the director [Caple] and MGM felt that it was extraneous and that it didn’t add anything. By the way, I think there’s some talk about doing a whole spinoff on Drago with MGM. So you may get more of that.”

When asked for his opinion on Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky vs. Drago, Lundgren confessed that he has yet to see it, saying, “I haven’t seen it yet. Sly showed me little clips, but I’ve been filming the last two weeks, every day.” He added, “Today is my first day off for a number of weeks. So I’m going to watch it. I was just reading some of the reviews, and people seem to like it.”

Lundgren then told THR that he had big ideas for Ivan Drago that went beyond what fans saw in the original cut of Rocky IV. When asked about wanting to show more of the Russian wrecking ball’s human side, Lundgren replied, “Well, when I played the character, I did a backstory about how he was brought up by the state and they controlled him. He didn’t have much say. He wasn’t really an evil person; he was just a product of the system. He’s Frankenstein’s monster. He’s not Dr. Frankenstein; that was the Soviet Union. So I always played that, and some of that came across in ’85. A little bit of something came across because in the next picture, I was not playing a villain. So some of it was there even then. Sly and I are friends, but now, I guess he wanted to show the other side of the character. So I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.”

Right now, Lundgren is hard at work directing and starring in the upcoming action thriller Castle Falls. In the film, Lundgren and martial artist Scott Adkins play desperate men who attempt to retrieve $3 million in cash from an abandoned hospital before its imminent demolition. Castle Falls has a script written by Andrew Knauer, with Jim E. Chandler, Kim DeLonghi, Dave Halls, Kevin Wayne, and Scott Hunter also set to star.

What do you think about the idea of Lundgren potentially working on a Drago spinoff at MGM? Have you seen Rocky vs. Drago yet? Do you think it added more humanity to Lundgren’s character or is there more than meets the eye of the tiger for his one-punch wonder?