Dolph Lundgren's First TV Show Role Was On A Hit Comedic Spy Series

When it comes to leading men of the action genre from the 1980s and '90s, Dolph Lundgren has the most fascinatingly eclectic career of them all. In contrast to his peers like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lundgren didn't seem to be as precious about crafting his on-screen persona. He happily embraced not just one but multiple villainous roles, from his breakout appearance as Ivan Drago in "Rocky IV" to playing Van Damme's opponent Andrew Scott in "Universal Soldier." The leading heroic roles he did take were idiosyncratic as well, as he played He-Man in 1987's "Masters of the Universe," Frank Castle in 1989's "The Punisher," and a world-weary detective in the gonzo "I Come in Peace." 

What's more, in between turning up in oddball genre fare like "Johnny Mnemonic," Lundgren also made a slew of direct-to-video features, effectively paving the way for that market to become a staple of the action genre. Folks like Scott Adkins and Tony Jaa owe a debt to Lundgren's embracing of the DTV world.

With all of this in mind, it's honestly shocking to realize that Lundgren never appeared on a TV show until 2010, when he guest-starred in "Chuck" Season 4, Episode 1, "Chuck Versus the Anniversary." The NBC series followed a geeky Everyman, Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), who accidentally (or is it?) has a US government database program called the Intersect downloaded into his brain. Thus, his NSA and CIA handlers (who eventually become his pal and girlfriend, in turn) take the woefully untrained Chuck on missions with them thanks to his access to secret Intersect information. 

Naturally, given the show's penchant for pop-culture savvy and geeky in-jokes and references, Lundgren's appearance on "Chuck" pays homage to his most iconic role.

When looking at Dolph Lundgren's career in retrospect, it's a little surprising that he didn't do much television in his early days. Then again, if he had, it's likely that he might've missed out on playing some of his most famous roles. Almost as proof of this, his appearance on "Chuck" demonstrates just how impactful his history on the big screen has been. His role as Marko, an operative who works for the evil Volkoff Industries corporation, has him referencing his Ivan Drago character from "Rocky IV" several times by quoting (albeit paraphrasing) some of Drago's most famous lines.

There are several layers of reference threaded through Lundgren's appearance as Marko on the show. One is that a direct reference to Drago had actually been made on "Chuck" before back in Season 3, Episode 11, "Chuck Versus the Final Exam," in which a character uses "Ivan Drago" as an alias. Another is that Lundgren's very first on-screen role was as a KGB agent in 1985's "A View to a Kill," so the fact that he played a Russian spy on "Chuck" made his turn as Marko a bit of a double reference. Finally, the reason why Lundgren only appears in this one episode of the series is because Marko is killed at the end by Chuck's spy mother Mary, played by Linda Hamilton, who rose to fame herself battling (and beating) Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The Terminator." 

As you can see, although "Chuck" was never a ratings juggernaut, it was a hit (especially with the Gen X and Millennial geek crowd) partly due to the way it deftly threaded pop culture references through its original narrative.

After his guest starring role on "Chuck," Dolph Lundgren seemed to no longer be avoiding TV work. He turned up on the syndicated series SAF3 for 12 episodes, guest starred on comedy series like "Workaholics" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," and did a run on The CW's "Arrow" for six episodes. He also brought a little of his direct to video history with him, too, appearing in several made-for-television movies, including a cameo in "Sharknado 5: Global Swarming." (2017 was only nine years ago, but doesn't it seem like such a different time?) Fast forward to 2026, where Lundgren is now the host of his own documentary series on the History Channel, titled "History's Greatest Machines with Dolph Lundgren." He's putting that chemical engineering degree to good use!

But while his "Chuck" gig got him into consistent TV work, Lundgren appeared in a TV movie 12 years prior to it via his role in "Blackjack." This was no cameo or supporting part, either, for he played the lead, Jack Devlin, a former U.S. Marshal turned bodyguard who finds himself hot on the trail of an assassin. The movie was intended as a backdoor pilot for a series, but, unfortunately, it wasn't picked up. However, the film didn't vanish as many failed pilots do, thanks in no small part to the fact that it was directed by the great John Woo. It was released direct-to-video in many territories, and it wound up airing on the USA Network on May 12, 1998. Still, although it's a shame that the series didn't wind up happening, its one-off status feels pretty appropriate for Lundgren — an action legend whose next move is never easily predictable.