Michael B. Jordan Got an Offer to Direct 'Creed III' If and When It Happens

A third instalment in the Creed franchise hasn't been officially announced yet, but if the movie goes ahead, producers already have their first choice of director lined up: Michael B. Jordan, who starred in the first two films as Adonis Creed. Irwin Winkler, the producer of the Creed movies as well as the original Rocky series of which they are a spinoff, revealed in his book, published this year, that he has assured Jordan he will have a shot at the director's chair.

"I promised Michael B. Jordan that he’d get his chance to direct Creed III," Winkler wrote in A Life in Movies: Stories From 50 Years in Hollywood, adding: "Last year in a conversation with our Creed star Michael B. Jordan, I offered him the opportunity to not only star in, but also to direct Creed III."

Winkler made a similar offer to Sylvester Stallone, who created the character of Rocky Balboa, following the success of 1976's Rocky, and Stallone stepped behind the camera to direct Rocky II in 1979. However, despite having leveraged that role into a wildly successful career, Stallone has since expressed his frustration with how he was never given annuity in the franchise. "I have zero ownership of Rocky," he said earlier this year. "Every word, every syllable, every grammatical error was all my fault. It was shocking that it never came to be, but I was told, ‘Hey, you got paid, so what are you complaining about?’ I was furious."

That said, Stallone returned to the world he created with the Creed movies, playing an older mentor figure to Jordan's Adonis, son of his old friend Apollo Creed. Creed II expanded on that mythology by bringing in Florian Munteaunu as Viktor Drago, son of villain Ivan Drago. And should Creed III get made, Stallone is keen to introduce more members of the next generation: he and Jordan have said that real-life heavyweight boxer Deontay Wilder would be perfect to cast as the son of Rocky III character Clubber Lang.

A new writer is getting in the ring for the third Creed film.

Zach Baylin, the scripter behind the upcoming Will Smith movie King Richard, has been tapped to pen the third installment of the boxing film franchise for MGM.

The movie will continue the story of Adonis Creed, played by Michael B. Jordan, but exact plot details are not yet known. A director has yet to be confirmed.

The first Creed film, written and directed by Ryan Coogler, grossed $173 million at the global box office following its release in 2015. Creed II (2018) was directed by Steven Caple Jr. from a screenplay by Juel Taylor and Sylvester Stallone and earned more than $214 million worldwide.

It is unclear when Creed 3 will head into production, as Jordan has a packed upcoming shooting schedule. He is set to appear in an as-yet untitled David O. Russell movie before heading into production on the Denzel Washington-directed Sony drama A Journal for Jordan.

Baylin's screenplay King Richard appeared on the 2018 Black List and centers on the father of tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams. The script later attached Smith to star as Richard Williams and produce via his Overbrook banner, with the package subsequently being picked up by Warner Bros. after a bidding war.

Baylin is repped by CAA and Grandview.

Deadline has mentioned it was going to happen numerous times, but Michael B. Jordan has now committed to a step up to a new title: director. He’ll helm the third installment of Creed, per MGM, which has dated the film for Thanksgiving, 2022. Jordan’s big moment — this is his directorial debut — was spoiled by his onscreen leading lady Tessa Thompson as a tossaway in an online interview. But most knew this was in the cards for several years since Irwin Winkler, producer of the original Rocky films and the Creed spinoffs, revealed that Jordan was going to be the director of the third film.

Script is by Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin, based on an outline by Ryan Coogler. Aside from Thompson, Phylicia Rashad are also back. Not mentioned is whether Sylvester Stallone will answer the bell and bring his Rocky Balboa back.

EXCLUSIVE: MGM and first time director Michael B. Jordan have set their sights on Lovecraft Country star Jonathan Majors to be his adversary in the ring for Creed III, sources said. Negotiations are underway for Majors to star in the film as Adonis Creed’s ring nemesis.

It’s the latest big movie role looming for Majors, who is coming off the first season of the critically lauded HBO hit series Lovecraft Country. His rise to A-list from his 2019 breakout in The Last Black Man in San Francisco has been meteoric. Majors most recently co-starred in the Spike Lee-directed Da 5 Bloods for Netflix, and he is set to play Kang The Conqueror in Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. He will next be seen in the Jaymes Samuel-directed Western, The Harder They Fall for Netflix, and Black Label Media’s Devotion.

The deal isn’t quite done yet and they are working through the logistics of Majors’ busy dance card that includes a return for the second season of Lovecraft Country. Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad return for the third installment of the Rocky franchise spinoff, but Sylvester Stallone decided not to come back this time. The script is written by Zach Baylin and Keenan Coogler.

There will surely be some ring training involved, but Majors has the physicality to stand toe to toe with Jordan, and the Yale School of Drama MFA has the acting chops, too. Stay tuned.