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PHILADELPHIA — Dolph Lundgren is stepping back into the ring — literally and figuratively. And this time it’s personal.

On a sweltering hot spring afternoon, the 60-year-old Swedish actor is sipping coffee in between scenes as he films a sequence for Creed II that sees him reprising his villainous Captain Ivan Drago from 1985’s Rocky IV.

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Lundgren is back playing the role that made him a star, mentoring his son, Viktor (played by Florian Munteanu), who takes on Adonis Creed, the son of the man Drago killed in the ring.

In the series, Drago was Rocky’s most fearsome opponent. In the Creed spinoff, his legacy looms large.

During a visit to the film’s set earlier this year, Lundgren, dressed in a warm-up suit with the name DRAGO emblazoned on the front, reflected on what it was like to resurrect one of cinema’s most iconic characters.

Were you expecting to play Drago again?

No, I wasn’t. I didn’t want to do it at first because I thought it would take away from the original and there was no way to do it without being caught up in the cartoonish sort of way I played that villain. But I met (the director) Steven Caple and I read his script and I realized the guy is really, really talented. And the character (as he’s written now) is tremendously interesting and challenging. That’s why I wanted to do it.