Which 2024 Super Bowl ad did Carl Weathers appear in?

Although much-loved actor Carl Weathers recently passed away, he made a poignant appearance on millions of television sets during the Super Bowl.

The Mandalorian and Rocky actor appeared on an ad for online sports-betting business FanDuel during the Super Bowl. The spot focuses on a real-time look at NFL legend Rob Gronkowski trying to kick a field goal, and in teasers Weathers had been acting as a coach for the former footballing great. Weathers had a spell in the NFL before his legendary acting career kicked off.

FanDuel’s executive vice president of marketing Andrew Sneyd confirmed in the lead-up to the game that the actor would still make an appearance, although he also stated that adjustments had been made to the commercial. This decision was taken after talks with the family of the deceased, with Sneyd adding “the family has been very supportive that they would still like to see Carl in the work,” and that ensuring they were “comfortable” was the main priority.

He went on to detail how much everyone loved working with Carl, before giving some hints as to how the commercial was being altered:

“We need to change what we are doing in the Bowl. The live event itself carries forward and as is. Rob will kick the field goal and he will be even more inspired to make it. He really enjoyed meeting Carl and found him to be such an optimistic and energetic person…We had built a master. One is an edit if he makes the kick and we have an edit if he misses. That content we had in those masters wouldn’t be appropriate for us to do any more. Since the news of Carl’s passing came, we have been working with editors to help us get back to something that does make sense.”

Sneyd also discussed how working on the new advert had made his team emotional:

“We have been viewing edits through tears. We really enjoyed the short time we had to work with him. He’s a wonderful man and he genuinely is an inspiration and had such a positive outlook on the world. We want to make sure we try to meet this moment with the respect it deserves.”

The Arrested Development and Happy Gilmore performer died in his sleep on Feb. 1, 2024, at the age of 76, leaving behind a truly legendary body of work and a wonderful legacy. Thankfully his last bit of screen time honored that.