Acting legend Carl Weathers died two years ago, in February 2024, at 76. Most people believed Apollo Creed, the character he played alongside Sylvester Stallone in the Rocky films, died with him. But now, two years on, Creed and Weathers are back on the big screen in Amazon MGM Studios’ I Play Rocky. And he’s played by Stephan James.
The first trailer for I Play Rocky is here, and it’s already got people talking. Anthony Ippolito does a fantastic job portraying a young Sylvester Stallone, so much so that you can’t help but be a little annoyed by his thick accent – which, to be fair, sounds exactly like the actor. It tells the story of Stallone fighting to write and star in Rocky – which, surprisingly sounds exactly like the story in the first film, too.
But while everyone is paying attention to Ippolito’s performance, it’s James’ take on Carl Weathers that has us mesmorized. The trailer shows Weathers’ audition, the fight, the role that made him a star before it made him a legend.
It’s a strange kind of homecoming, especially since we last saw Apollo Creed years ago, when he died in Rocky IV, killed in a fight against Dolph Lundgren’s Ivan Drago.
Peter Farrelly, the Oscar-winning director of Green Book, directs from a screenplay by Peter Gamble. The rest of the ensemble includes Matt Dillon, AnnaSophia Robb, P.J. Byrne, Toby Kebbell, Tracy Letts, and Jay Duplass.
I Play Rocky arrives in select theaters on November 6, 2026, before expanding wide later that month, timed for Thanksgiving.
