After his cancer diagnosis, the action movie legend didn’t think he’d live to see the premiere of his documentary.

*Rocky IV *star Dolph Lundgren breaks down over cancer battle in emotional trailer for Dolph: Unbreakable (exclusive)

After his cancer diagnosis, the action movie legend didn’t think he’d live to see the premiere of his documentary.

By Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence is a former associate editor at **. He left EW in 2022.

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August 19, 2026 11:00 a.m. ET

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Dolph Lundgren in ‘Dolph: Unbreakable’. Credit:

- Watch the exclusive trailer for *Dolph: Unbreakable*.

- Dolph Lundgren speaks to ** about battling cancer while filming the documentary.

- The action star admits that he didn’t know if he’d be alive to see the film’s premiere.

Dolph Lundgren didn’t know if he’d live to see this day. The 68-year-old action legend is set to release *Dolph: Unbreakable*, but the documentary took a sudden life-threatening turn when he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Initially told he had only three years left to live, the Lundgren prepared for the worst.

“They came to me back in 2020 during COVID, and we started shooting footage,” Lundgren tells **. “At that point I’d done almost a hundred movies, so I felt I had a pretty interesting story. And then I get this cancer diagnosis in 2020, and everything was upended. I didn’t tell the documentary team about it for a while, but it wasn’t looking too good. So, in 2021, I told them that maybe we should focus a little bit on that because I may not be around for the premiere of this thing.”

The *Rocky IV* star says that the film was then “reborn,” as they shot new interviews and followed him during his health struggles, with his wife, Emma Krokdal, 30, recording footage from the hospital. “Now the documentary is a lot about that,” he reveals. “And what it symbolizes are the fights I’ve had in my whole life, framed by the big battle I had over four years with kidney cancer.”

Dolph Lundgren in ‘Dolph: Unbreakable’.

Thankfully, last year, Lundgren announced that he was cancer-free. Having won another fight, the *Masters of the Universe* and *Expendables* alum has come out the other side with a new perspective on life and his purpose moving forward.

Below, read EW’s chat with Lundgren and watch the exclusive debut of the *Dolph: Unbreakable* trailer, which features appearances from Lundgren contemporaries Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

**: You said you didn’t know if you’d still be here when *Unbreakable* premiered. How does it feel to have defied the odds and see this project fully realized?**

**DOLPH LUNDGREN:** It’s a big moment. It feels very satisfying and wonderful. Life goes on, and sometimes I forget about what I’ve been through. I mean, it’s always there, but sometimes I don’t think about it. Obviously, when I talk to you about it or look at the documentary, I do go through the emotions of having this brush with death. I do what they call survivorship therapy, because you go through cancer survivorship, and you get PTSD, a little bit like a soldier coming back from war, because you faced your own mortality.

In therapy, they said, “The one rule of life is that we all know we’re gonna die.” But most people don’t think about it. You can get hit by a bus any day, but they told me, “Well, once you’ve had cancer, you’ve seen the bus. You saw the color of the bus, and you saw the number of it.” So it’s a little different. But it’s a wonderful feeling, and I hope it can inspire people who have their own problems — not just cancer — to be positive and keep fighting.

'Rocky IV' star Dolph Lundgren reveals he's cancer-free: 'It's been a rough ride'

Dolph Lundgren responds to Sylvester Stallone's 'Drago' slams

**What was it like having cameras follow you as you dealt with this life-threatening health scare?**

A lot of this footage in the hospitals was shot by my wife because we didn’t allow cameras, and it was during COVID, so it was complicated. It felt good that she was there; she was very instrumental in getting me through this and being extremely supportive. The fact that she’s quite a bit younger than me — young people have more of an optimistic outlook on life, and it’s a contagious thing. The interviewers and documentary team were there as well for me, and when I first told them, they got very emotional; they were in shock, and they didn’t know what to think. So I think they’re very happy that things have worked out well.

**In the trailer, we see you overcome by your emotions. Obviously, you’re viewed as this big, tough-guy action hero — you are Ivan Drago! But was it important to you to really be authentic and lead with your true emotions?**

I’ve been emotional since I was a kid. I had a problem with my dad, went through some abuse, and I found martial arts, which is the way to express myself and feel strong. And then, of course, I did the same in the movies, which was almost like therapy. I say in the documentary that I thought I wasn’t going to last that long; I was going to go out like a Viking, in a blaze of glory. And I think the emotion now comes from the fact that I realized that there is an older warrior in me who has wisdom and can contribute other things to humanity: inspiration and strength — and a different type of strength that comes from being open, which takes more strength than just being physically strong.

That emotional openness has made me feel better and has value for me. And I think for other people. Men aren’t supposed to be emotional; we are supposed to just soldier on, no matter what happens to us, but men are damaged, too. By opening up, it could be a better world, because instead of getting aggressive and hurting other people, you can just get your emotions out in a positive way.

**Is there something that you are most excited for people to see in the doc or learn about you?**

I like to be honest about my mistakes and the positives and negatives; each person has those two sides. So I think it’s interesting for people to see the struggles, to see the other side of the illusion of the actor, the movie star. And that I was a bit of a sickly kid who was more of an intellectual than an athlete when I started. It’s just the duality of a normal person.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Dolph Lundgren in ‘Dolph: Unbreakable’.

**What does it mean to you to have legends like Sly and Arnold and Van Damme participate and sing your praises the way they do here?**

It’s a great feeling. I’ve known these guys for a long time. I met Arnold before I was in the movie business. I was going out with the singer Grace Jones, and I met him on the set of [1984’s] *Conan the Destroyer*. I was a fighter at the time, and we stayed in touch all these years. I’m involved with one of his charities, and he’s been very supportive of me.

And of course Stallone has been a great part of my life. He’s an Italian, so he’s very emotional, and I remember when I broke the news about my cancer, the next day I was in a store in Beverly Hills, and I get this call from him, and he’s in tears. “[*Stallone voice*] How are you feeling? I have to see you.” And it was like, *whoa*. I was just in shock, because we had this tough-guy kind of camaraderie, but we hadn’t really spoken about this on that level. Since then we’ve become quite close friends. I think those guys are softies too, like me. I’ve seen some of their documentaries; they’re also opening up, and so they appreciate it.

**In *Unbreakable*, you say you’ve lived five lifetimes in one. So what is left for you to do, whether personally or professionally?**

I have this autobiography [*Fights Worth Fighting: Finding Strength in Struggle*] coming out as well, so a little bit of trying to have the older warrior inspire young people to find themselves and find some direction in life. That feels like a new task that I’m just starting now. Also, I think continuing as an actor and try to channel some of that emotion and other side of myself into my roles would be nice.

There’s a quote in the book; I think it was Jane Fonda who said, “Better late than never,” when they asked her about her life, and she also had a number of different lives, went through all these different iterations. I’m a Scorpio, and Scorpios have to shed their skin, which means that you kind of leave the past behind. So I feel a little bit like that now: leaving another life behind, and I have a new life now. After the cancer and having been through all that, it’s the first time I really appreciate myself as well. I’m kinder to myself than I was before, so I think that also feels good. I don’t push myself as much, and that makes me appreciate life more. I’m doing it for myself and for that young kid who came over here from Sweden and didn’t know what was gonna happen to him.

*Dolph: Unbreakable* premieres Oct. 6 on VOD and all digital platforms.

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