“People like me live in the past.” These words from Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa set the mood in the first trailer for Creed II, which reveals that Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Johnson will have to confront a figure from his father’s past in the sequel.
Set to Kendrick Lamar’s DNA, the footage released on Wednesday confirms that this eighth instalment of the Rocky franchise draws on events from Rocky IV for the next chapter of Adonis’ journey. In Creed II, he will face off against Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the boxer who killed his father.
The trailer shows that both Rocky and Adonis’ stepmother (Phylicia Rashad) want to avoid any possibility of history repeating itself, but for Adonis, “this is more than just a fight.”
Also returning for the follow-up to 2015’s Creed is Tessa Thompson as Bianca, the musician with progressive hearing loss and Adonis’ girlfriend.
Written by Stallone and Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker, Creed II is directed by Steven Caple Jr. (The Land).
Creed director and co-writer Ryan Coogler is an executive producer on the film, along with Jordan and Guy Riedel.
Creed II is scheduled to hit theatres in the US on November 21.
