Yesterday, the posters for the upcoming entry in the Creed franchise, Creed III, dropped and now the trailer is here too. The new film finds star Michael B. Jordan both in front of the camera and behind it as the movie's director.
Finally, we get to see exactly what's up with Major's character, as he is revealed as an old friend turned nemesis to Jordan's Donnie Creed. Creed is on top of the world as a pro boxer: “I spent the last seven years of my life living out my wildest dreams,” Donnie says. “Bianca. Rocky. My dad. I stood on their shoulders.”
Then comes Majors, who plays Creed's old friend, Dame. Dame apparently spent the last 18 years in prison and claims before he got locked up he was a better boxer than Creed. “Imagine spending half your life in a cell watching somebody else live your life,” Dame yells during a confrontation. “I’m coming for everything.”
Uh-oh.
The third installment of the popular franchise will see the return of several stars including Tessa Thompson as Bianca Taylor and Phylicia Rashad as Mary Anne Creed. Wood Harris will also reprise his role as Tony "Little Duke" Evers, and Florian Munteanu will return as Viktor Drago.
Jordan explained why he wanted to direct this go-around during a press conference, per Variety. “For me it was the perfect time, growing up on set and in the industry for over 20 years, starting out doing background work and extra work and just kind of just seeing the sets evolve, seeing everybody’s job, seeing how a real production storytelling took place, I finally got to this place in my career where I wanted to tell a story and not just be in front of the camera, not just execute somebody else’s vision,” he said. "Having a character that I’ve played twice before — it’s been seven, eight years living with this guy — so to be able to tell the story of where I believe Adonis is at,” he continued. “And also at 35 years old, I had a lot to say, as a young Black man, just my life experiences and how I could actually share a piece of myself with the world through these characters and through the story.”
He also talked about casting Majors to play opposite him. “For me, as a director, to have that running mate and that scene partner made all the difference in the world," he said. "The world is finding out daily how incredible this man is and the works that he does. It’s finally getting the props that it’s due. And Jonathan was incredible, man, he showed up every day ready. Ready to go to war. Ready to work.”
“Creed III” marks the ninth installment in the “Rocky” film franchise and the third in the “Creed” spinoff series, which has made more than $377 million worldwide.
Watch the trailer below.