Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Prequel Series Explained (Is It Happening?)

Sylvester Stallone pitched an intriguing idea for a Rocky prequel series set in the decade before the original film in 1976, although the legendary filmmaker admits the show is unlikely to happen. Stallone played “The Italian Stallion” Rocky Balboa in six Rocky films and two Creed movies. Slated for release in 2o22, Creed III both stars and will be directed by Michael B. Jordan although Stallone won’t reprise his role as Rocky.

Rocky, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1977, is one of the greatest and most beloved sports movies ever made. Rocky‘s massive success in 1976 spawned five sequels from 1979’s Rocky II to 2006’s Rocky Balboa, and it inspired many other franchises, most notably The Karate Kid. Rocky is the brainchild of Sylvester Stallone, who wrote all of the films and directed Rocky II, III, IV, V, and Rocky Balboa. The apex of Rocky’s popularity came in the 1980s when Stallone helped set the trends of the decade and transformed Rocky into a more cartoonish story of good vs. evil, where “The Italian Stallion” battled villainous fighters like Clubber Lang (Mr. T) and Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). The Creed films refit Rocky as a mentor to Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), and he helped the son of his best friend/greatest rival Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) also become the heavyweight champion.

Stallone retired from playing Rocky after 2018’s Creed II but he is obviously not ready to leave his most popular creation behind. In March 2021, Stallone pitched a treatment for a Rocky prequel TV series on his Instagram that he would want to see aired on a streaming service. In his hand-written notes, Stallone outlined how his Rocky prequel would introduce Robert “Rocky” Balboa as a 17-year-old who is “a young man struggling like all young people, trying to find [a direction and purpose in life]”. Stallone noted that fans met Rocky in 1976 as “a lost soul until he was transformed into a winner” but his prequel idea would see the major events of the 1960s through the eyes of young Rocky from his impoverished stomping grounds of South Philly.

According to Sylvester Stallone, his show about a young Rocky would be “a time machine” that “takes us to the most transformative generation in modern history: The Sixties”. The young Rocky show would chart Balboa’s growth into adulthood juxtaposed against the major events of the era, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Kennedy Assassination, Vietnam, the coming of The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Muhammad Ali, and so on. Sly envisions 10 episodes per season “for a few seasons” to “really get to the heart of the characters in their younger years”. Stallone also posted pictures of Rocky and his wife Adrian (Talia Shire) de-aged into teenagers on his Instagram.

Stallone’s idea seems to cross Rocky with Mad Men, which was also set from 1960-1970. Stallone’s young Rocky plan is ambitious but he also believes that the show probably won’t happen “due to certain complications”. No doubt, the cost of his endeavor as a period piece set in the 1960s is daunting, and Stallone may even be considering playing a digitally de-aged young Rocky himself instead of recasting the role with a younger actor. The fact that Rocky‘s film rights are tied up with the Creed movies may also be a roadblock to getting a prequel show about Balboa off the ground.

No doubt, Stallone sees the phenomenal success of Cobra Kai on Netflix and he wonders why Rocky can’t enjoy the same type of TV resurgence, although Cobra Kai is moving The Karate Kid franchise forward instead of looking backward. Young Rock, NBC’s sitcom about Dwayne Johnson, is also a hit so there’s a lot of merit in Stallone’s Rocky prequel idea. He’s also absolutely right that Rocky‘s characters “have been beloved by people around the world for nearly five decades.” Fans would definitely be interested to see how young Rocky met the young Paulie and Adrian and how he became a fighter. Whatever the “certain complications” Stallone faces are, there would definitely be interest in a Rocky prequel TV series if it ever happens, although Stallone probably needs to wait until the Creed movies have run their course.

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