Real-life married couple Courtney B. Vance and Angela Bassett play husband and wife, Russell and Catherine Banfield.
Carl Weathers plays the father of a boxer and boxed in his past. He previously played the boxer Apollo Creed in Rocky (1976) and its first three sequels Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985).
This was the first episode to air after the death of the series' creator Michael Crichton on November 4, 2008 at the age of 66.
The late Chadwick Boseman (the guest-star boxer) co-starred with Angela Bassett (Cate Banfield) in Black Panther (2018) with Bassett portraying Boseman's mother in the film.