February 16, 2021 (2021-02-16) – February 24, 2023 (2023-02-24)
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".[1] The series is 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.[2] 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,[3] which premiered on November 4, 2022.[4] In June 2023, the series was cancelled after three seasons.[5]
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.[6]
In 2032, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is running for President of the United States. To prove he is like the everyday American, he sits down for an interview with Randall Park, now a journalist, and begins discussing his childhood. Johnson flashbacks to his life as a young boy in Hawaii, where his famous father Rocky Johnson, a wrestler, just won a match; they later go to Rocky's mother's house to talk to the rest of the family, to the dismay of Johnson's mother. Johnson then flashbacks to his teenage years in Pennsylvania, trying to impress girls by stealing and making himself appear wealthy, while dealing with his parents struggling to make income. Johnson also reminiscences about his college years, playing for the Miami Hurricanes', but not before his father shows up to the team's gym trying to make his son look good.
Continuing from the previous episode, Johnson continues to talk about his past in the interview with Park. As a high schooler in 1987 Pennsylvania, Johnson is continuing to lie about his wealth to impress girls, specifically a popular girl named Karen. He asks her to go on a date to his father's wrestling match, but when they attend the match, they realize it's in the middle of a flea market with very few spectators. Despite this event being slightly embarrassing to Johnson, Karen finds this interesting and continues to date him. Meanwhile, Johnson's mom Ata hangs out with a rich client whom she cleans her house for.
Talking to his campaign manager (in 2032), Johnson begins talking about how life drastically changed when his father became famous for wrestling. Flashbacking, his younger self and his family learn from his grandmother, a wrestling promoter, that she is organizing an Island-wide wrestling tournament. However, one of the booked wrestlers backs out, claiming his mother is sick, but was actually offered more money by Greg Yao, another wrestling promoter. Rocky Johnson is also offered promotion by Yao, but Rocky is afraid he'll be left behind in the changing business. Meanwhile, Johnson's mom Ata, after being encouraged to do so, decides to pursue a career in singing on reality television, starting with singing at a restaurant.
In a convention in 2032, Johnson announcing his running mate for vice president named General Monica Jackson. Flashbacking it to 1982, Dewey is spending a day with Andre the Giant, while Lia and Rocky prepares their plans for the huge Island Battle Royale. Andre had asking Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (Ivan So) and Sgt. Slaughter to battle them in the battle royale. Meanwhile, Ata is creating an original song as her quest for stardom that showed us the quirky side of the mom of the household.
In 2032, Johnson and rival candidate senator Brayden Taft (Michael Torpey) had a debate. Flashbacking to 1982, Ata wanted to audition for Star Search. Rocky takes an unorthodox approach to helping Dewey deal with some bullies after Kenny (P.J. Holt) cut the part of the surfboard. Lia had a conflict with rival wrestling promoter Greg Yao.
On Election Day (in 2032), Johnson leads Taft by 4 point margin to become the next president. Johnson talks to Park ahead of his acceptance speech. Flashbacking, Dewey became the president of the Rocky Johnson Fan Club, Rocky said that her mother's Star Search audition is so pretty famous. Ata visited the Greg Yao's office to pay the price until the end of the day. Rocky and Dewey meet their parents back home to Hawaii and they meet Randy Savage. Lia was arrested for extortion after her feud with Greg. Meanwhile, in 1988, Dewey accepting his calls from coaches that he wanted to accepting him in the University of Georgia, the University of Notre Dame or the University of Southern California. Dewey had accepting the call from the University of Miami to become a football player on the road to his NFL stardom. Then in 1995, in Tampa, Dewey prepares his shot at the NFL draft while he is in college. He watching the draft while he announcing Warren Sapp as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he did not called, then on day 2, they did not called after they announced the final draft selection has been picked. Dewey instead wanted to played for the Calgary Stampeders while in the cold. Johnson completes his interview with Park and they met the future version of Lia to attend their press conference.
Note: In the Eastern and Central time zones, due to news coverage of the Robb Elementary School shooting, this episode was not broadcast, though it was rebroadcast on May 29, 2022, in its entirety.
Note: In the Eastern and Central time zones, due to preemption for a speech from President Biden, this episode was joined in progress. It was also rebroadcast on May 29, 2022, in its entirety.
Dwayne Johnson, who plays himself and is also an executive producer
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.[48] In November 2020, production on the series commenced in Australia.[49] On January 15, 2021, it was announced that the series would premiere on February 16, 2021.[50] On April 30, 2021, NBC renewed the series for a second season,[2] again filmed in Australia.[51] A holiday special episode titled as "A Christmas Peril" aired
on December 15, 2021, ahead of the second season premiere on March 15, 2022.[52][53] On May 12, 2022, NBC renewed the series for a third season,[3] which was filmed in Memphis, Tennessee.[54] The third season premiered on November 4, 2022, following Lopez vs Lopez as a part of NBC's Friday Comedy Hour block.[4] On June 9, 2023, NBC canceled the series after three seasons.[5]
Casting
Three actors were cast to play Johnson at three ages from his youth.[55] 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.[56] On August 3, 2021, Matthew Willig was promoted to series regular for the second season.[8]
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.[57]
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,[58] 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.[58][59]
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."[60] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[61] The series has been criticized by Jim Cornette for its historical inaccuracy and unflattering portrayal of several wrestlers.[62][63][64]
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.[78]
^In the episode, Johnson acknowledges he changed the name of the real wrestler involved in the story to protect their identity due to the situation discussed in the story. No official confirmation has ever been given of who the wrestler actually was, though it has been heavily implied to be Shawn Michaels by fans as well as close friendsKevin Nash and Sean Waltman due to legitimate issues between Michaels and Johnson.[10][11]
