Creed II continues the legacy connection to the classic Rocky franchise by having Michael B. Jordan‘s character Adonis Creed face-off with Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu). He just so happens to be the son of Rocky Balboa’s dangerous opponent Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the man responsible for the death of his fellow boxer Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). But instead of only continuing the legacy of Creed, it apparently almost featured an appearance by Apollo Creed himself in the form of a ghost.

Dolph Lundgren recently participated in a Q&A at Monster-Mania Con 42 (via CinemaBlend), and while he was talking about Creed II, he was asked about the return of Brigitte Nielsen as her character Ludmilla. While complimenting what a great idea it was, he casually mentioned that a different draft of the script featured the return of Apollo Creed, possibly as a ghost. Lundgren said:

“It was a great idea I thought (to bring Nielsen back). In the original first draft it was Apollo came back. Or like his ghost or something. It was a little hokey, you know. So I think it was much better to bring Brigitte back.”

Unfortunately, Lundgren didn’t elaborate on the scene in question, so we have no idea how Apollo Creed’s appearance in that capacity would have worked. It certainly would have been quite the departure from reality for the Rocky franchise, who has never used the spirit of any deceased characters before. Maybe it was some kind of dream sequence for Adonis Creed to have instead of a real ghost appearing to him in the movie. That would have made more sense, but even that would have also been something new for the boxing series.

Honestly, it’s for the best. Perhaps Sylvester Stallone wrote the scene in simply because he wanted to get Carl Weathers back in the franchise after killing off Apollo Creed in Rocky IV. He even expressed regret over the decision recently when he wished the actor a happy birthday. But now Sylvester Stallone himself is probably retired from the Rocky franchise for good, so it sounds like we won’t be seeing Apollo Creed’s ghost appearing in a Rocky or Creed movie anytime soon. And that’s probably for the best.

We don’t have any idea of there will be a Creed III in our future at all, but Creed II is available on digital download, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD right now.