Never count the Rocky and Creed franchise out, as the film series has secured yet another spinoff. This time it’s Drago, which will follow Dolph Lundgren's merciless Ivan Drago and his son Viktor.
The existence of a movie about Ivan Drago was first revealed in an interview last year with Lundgren, who played the Russian boxer in Rocky IV (1985). As fans likely recall, Ivan Drago first appeared in Rocky IV as the primary antagonist who was responsible for the death of Apollo Creed.
Now, The Wrap has rung the bell with some new details about the upcoming MGM film. Drago will focus on the Russian boxer Ivan Drago and his son Viktor Drago, the antagonist of the more recent Creed 2 (2018). Very few details are known about the movie, but it will be written by Robert Lawton. Lawton recently received attention for his script Becoming Rocky, about the making of the original Rocky film, which won a Nicholl Fellowship in 2021 and was picked up by MGM for production. His previous credits include the scripts for Sex & Sushi (2006), a romantic comedy about a private detective, and Crave (2012), a vigilante thriller about a crime scene photographer with a twisted sense of justice.
Drago will mark the 10th film in the Rocky franchise and the start of its second spinoff series. The long-running franchise reinvented itself back in 2015 with the critically acclaimed Creed, which followed Donnie, the illegitimate son of Rocky and Rocky II antagonist Apollo Creed. In the film, Donnie seeks out Rocky Balboa to teach him how to box and learn more about his father, who was killed by Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. The successful series has continued with Creed II and most recently Creed III, which is set to release this year.
Although almost nothing is known about Drago, it sounds like it will fall into familiar territory for the franchise. Because it stars both Ivan and Viktor, fans can assume that it will be anoather story of a troubled father-son relationship, well-trodden ground for the Rocky films. Ivan Drago is also one of the most memorable villains of the series, who represents pure aggression and ruthlessness, so the new film will probably grapple with issues of unchecked masculinity, another common Rocky t heme.
However, Drago is not the only project in the works for Stallone's unkillable boxing franchise. As of May 2020, Stallone was reportedly working on a script for one last mainline Rocky film, which will see Rocky Balboa mentor and train a young undocumented immigrant who hasn’t come to terms with his anger and bitterness. Although the film has not been greenlit from the last audiences heard, it shouldn’t be too hard for an industry star like Stallone to find someone to take the project on.
Drago is currently in development at MGM.
Source: The Wrap