Young Rock is an American television sitcom based upon the life of professional wrestler and actor Dwayne Johnson, also known by his ring name "The Rock". The series was created by Johnson, Jeff Chiang and Nahnatchka Khan. It aired on NBC from February 16, 2021, to February 24, 2023. In April 2021, the series was renewed for a second season. A holiday special episode aired on December 15, 2021, and the second season premiered on March 15, 2022. In May 2022, the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on November 4, 2022. The series was cancelled in June 2023.
Contents
Premise
The sitcom is organized around a frame story set in the early 2030s, beginning with Johnson running for office in the 2032 United States presidential election. Each episode involves Johnson participating in an interview or other conversation which leads him to flashback to a story from one of three periods of Johnson's life, with occasional episodes where all three periods are shown. In the first season, Johnson is depicted as a ten-year-old in Hawaii; as a high school student in Pennsylvania; and as a college student and football player at the University of Miami.
Cast and characters
Main
Dwayne Johnson as himself in scenes set in the future
Adrian Groulx as 10- to 14-year-old Dwayne, usually called Dewey by family
Bradley Constant as 15- to 17-year-old Dwayne
Uli Latukefu as 18- to 26-year-old Dwayne
Joseph Lee Anderson as Rocky Johnson, Dwayne's father
Stacey Leilua as Ata Johnson, Dwayne's mother
Ana Tuisila as Lia Maivia, Dwayne's grandmother, Ata's mother
Tuisila also plays the 1960's version of Lia
Matthew Willig as André the Giant (season 2–3; recurring season 1)
Recurring
(Note: All the wrestling recurring characters who appear in 1982 also appear in 1987 and the 1990s)
Brett Azar as The Iron Sheik
Nate Jackson as Junkyard Dog
Kevin Makely as Randy Savage
Fasitua Amosa and John Tui as Sika and Afa Anoa'i, better known as The Wild Samoans
Wayne Mattei as Sgt. Slaughter
Kiff VandenHeuvel as Pat Patterson (season 2–3)
Marshall Williams plays a Young Pat Patterson in the 1960s (season 3)
Josh Thomson as Bob, Lia Maivia's assistant
Ronny Chieng as Greg Yao (season 1), a rival promoter of Lia's who is scalping wrestlers
Sarah Gattelleri as Miss Elizabeth (season 2)
Dave T. Koenig as Mean Gene Okerlund (season 2)
Antuone Torbert as Tony Atlas (season 2)
Jacob Hadley as "Chunk"/Jeff Cohen (season 3)
Jason Devon Jenkins as Mr. T (season 3)
Pete Gardner as Liberace (season 3)
Brock O'Hurn as Hulk Hogan (season 3)
Mike Holley as Lars Anderson, a booker and wrestler for Ata's stable (season 3)
Guest stars
Jordana Beatty as Bonnie (season 1, episodes 2, 5, 8 and 11)
Luke Hemsworth as Coach Erickson (season 1, episodes 10 and 11)
Sean Astin as Man (1990s) who sold Dewey a mattress/Julian, an old schoolmate who 2032 Rock has a Twitter war with.
Becky Lynch as Cyndi Lauper (season 3, episodes 1 and 12)
Mark Ashworth as Director Lee, director of You Only Live Twice (season 3)
Clark Duke as Brian Gewirtz (Season 3, episode 8)
Ivan So as Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (season 1, episode 6)
Paul Paice as Captain Lou Albano (season 2, episode 2)
Joseph D. Reitman plays Captain Lou in season 3
Michael Strassner as Jerry Lawler (season 2)
Patrick Cox as Crusher Yurkov (season 2)
James Bolton as Jeff Jarrett (season 2)
Bowie Walton as Roman Reigns (season 2, as a child)
Marcus Molyneux as Brian Christopher (season 2)
Cooper Matthews as Brian Lawler (season 2, as a teenager)
Colt Cabana as The Brooklyn Brawler (season 2, episode 8)
Brad Burroughs as Michael "P.S." Hayes (season 2)
Episodes
Production
Development
On January 11, 2020, NBC gave a straight-to-series order to Young Rock, a comedy series based on Dwayne Johnson's early life created by Johnson and Nahnatchka Khan and produce the series with Jeff Chiang, Dany Garcia, Jennifer Carreras, Hiram Garcia, and Brian Gewirtz with Khan and Chiang writing the pilot. In November 2020, production on the series commenced in Australia. On January 15, 2021, it was announced that the series would premiere on February 16, 2021. On April 30, 2021, NBC renewed the series for a second season, again filmed in Australia. A holiday special episode titled as "A Christmas Peril" aired
on December 15, 2021, ahead of the second season premiere on March 15, 2022. On May 12, 2022, NBC renewed the series for a third season, which was filmed in Memphis, Tennessee. The third season premiered on November 4, 2022, following Lopez vs Lopez as a part of NBC's Friday Comedy Hour block. On June 9, 2023, NBC canceled the series after three seasons.
Casting
Three actors were cast to play Johnson at three ages from his youth. On September 30, 2020, Johnson revealed that Bradley Constant was cast as 15-year-old Johnson, Uli Latukefu as 18–20-year-old Johnson, Adrian Groulx as 10-year-old Johnson, Stacey Leilua as Johnson's mother, Ata Johnson, Joseph Lee Anderson as Johnson's father, Rocky Johnson, and Ana Tuisila as Johnson's grandmother, Lia Maivia. On August 3, 2021, Matthew Willig was promoted to series regular for the second season.
Release
Marketing
During the 2020 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, an inflatable CGI float featuring Dwayne Johnson in his 20s was unveiled in promotion of the television show.
Home media
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released the complete first season of Young Rock on DVD and manufacture-on-demand Blu-ray on March 29, 2022, with its second season was released on DVD and Blu-ray also as manufacture-on-demand titles on November 8, seven months after the first season's home release.
Reception
Critical response
The series received generally positive reviews from critics throughout its run. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has a rating of 90% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 7.70/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Anchored by a winsome ensemble, Young Rock is an endearing peek behind the curtain of both Dwayne Johnson's childhood and the wild world of wrestling." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The series has been criticized by Jim Cornette for its historical inaccuracy and unflattering portrayal of several wrestlers.
Accolades
The series was one of 101 out of the 200 most-popular scripted television series that received the ReFrame Stamp for the years 2020 to 2021. The stamp is awarded by the gender equity coalition ReFrame and industry database IMDbPro for film and television projects that are proven to have gender-balanced hiring, with stamps being awarded to projects that hire women, especially women of color, in four out of eight key roles for their production.
