Sylvester Stallone has built the biggest success of his career on franchise filmmaking, but he’s drawing a line under his association with two of his most popular properties.
The 75 year-old won’t be returning as Rocky Balboa in Creed III, with Michael B. Jordan set to make his directorial debut on the sports drama threequel. Not only that, but Sly confirmed in a recent set video taken behind the scenes of The Expendables 4 that we won’t be seeing Barney Ross again, either.
The Rambo legend did say in the Instagram clip that he’d be passing the baton on to Jason Statham’s Lee Christmas, so that doesn’t mean we won’t be seeing the aging band of gunslingers again; they’ll just be missing their de facto leader and his lucky ring. That also increases the chances Barney isn’t making it out of the fourth installment alive, especially with Stallone spending less than three weeks on set.
The Expendables 4 doesn’t have a release date as of yet, but it’ll be a bittersweet experience for fans of the series knowing that its creator won’t be sticking around. Then again, it’s not as if audiences are averse to the idea of watching Jason Statham take top billing in explosive actioners, so there’s a more than capable replacement already waiting in the wings.