''Young Rock'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

based upon the life of professional wrestler and actor

Dwayne Johnson Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on a part-time basis. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional w ...

, also known by his

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

"The Rock". The series was created by Johnson, Jeff Chiang and Nahnatchka Khan. It aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

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.

Premise

The sitcom is organized around a

frame story A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either fo ...

set in the early 2030s, beginning with Johnson running for office in the 2032

United States presidential election The election of the president of the United States, president and Vice President of the United States, vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are Voter registration in the United ...

. 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 Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

; as a high school student in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

; and as a college student and football player at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

Cast and characters

Main

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 André René Roussimoff (; 19 May 1946 – 28 January 1993), better known by his ring name André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. Dubbed "the Eighth Wonder of the World", Roussimoff was known for his great size, which ...

(season 2–3; recurring season 1)

Recurring

1982

(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 Sylvester Ritter (December 13, 1952 – June 1, 1998) was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and NCAA football, college football player, best known for his time in Universal Wrestling Federation (Bill Watts), Mid-South Wre ...

* Kevin Makely as

Randy Savage Randy Mario Poffo (November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler and professional baseball player, best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation ( ...

* Fasitua Amosa and John Tui as Sika and Afa Anoa'i, better known as The Wild Samoans * Wayne Mattei as Sgt. Slaughter *

Kiff VandenHeuvel Kiff VandenHeuvel (born Christopher Jon VandenHeuvel, April 24, 1970) is an American actor, director and teacher of both improvisational comedy and voiceover. He is the host of the voiceover podcast, All Over Voiceover with Kiff VH. His film c ...

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 Elizabeth Ann Hulette (November 19, 1960 – May 1, 2003), best known in professional wrestling circles as Miss Elizabeth, was an American professional wrestling Manager (professional wrestling), manager, occasional professional wrestler and prof ...

(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 Laurence T (born Laurence Tureaud; May 21, 1952), known professionally as Mr. T, is an American actor and retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series ''The A ...

(season 3) *

Pete Gardner Peter Gardner (born Pete Zahradnick in Scarsdale, New York in 1964) is an American actor, best known for playing Darryl Whitefeather in The CW comedy-drama series '' Crazy Ex-Girlfriend''. Early life Gardner studied improv at the Second City i ...

as Liberace (season 3) * Brock O'Hurn as

Hulk Hogan Terry Gene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as a brand ambassador. Known for his flamboyance and massive physiq ...

(season 3) * Mike Holley as Lars Anderson, a booker and wrestler for Ata's stable (season 3)

1987

* Lexie Duncan as Karen, teenage Rock's girlfriend ** Duncan also plays Lisa, Karen's twin sister * Bryan Probets as Principal Boggs * Stephen Adams as Kevin, Teenage Rock's rival for Karen * Grayson Waller as

Ric Flair Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Flair's career spanned 50 years. He is ...

* Jade Drane as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (season 1) **Ben Vandermay plays Roddy Piper in season 3 * Adam Ray as

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon ( ; born August 24, 1945) is an American businessman and former professional wrestling promoter. McMahon, along with his later-estranged wife Linda McMahon, Linda, is a co-founder of the modern WWE, the world's largest ...

(season 2–3) * Taj Cross as Gabe, Dwayne's best friend in high school * Genevieve Hegney as Diane, Ata's employer * Ryan Pinkston as Downtown Bruno (season 2–3) * Greg Larsen as wrestler Bob Owens (season 2)

1990s

* Arlyn Broche as Dany Garcia, Dwayne's girlfriend/wife (season 2–3) * Mark Casamento as Coach

Wally Buono Pasquale "Wally" Buono (born February 7, 1950) is a Canadian ex-football coach currently working as the vice president of football operations, alternate governor and the former head coach of the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL), a ...

(season 2) * Michael Bemrose as

Bruce Prichard Bruce Prichard (born March 7, 1963) is an American professional wrestling executive, booker, and producer and a former manager, commentator, and occasional professional wrestler who works for WWE as Executive Director - CWT. In addition to ...

(season 2) * Mana Tatafu as Uncle King Tonga (season 2) * Luke Hawx as

Stone Cold Steve Austin Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson and later Steven James Williams; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American media personality, actor, producer and retired Professional wrestling, profes ...

(season 2–3) * Sam Ball as Mick Foley/Mankind (season 3) * Nicholas Bernardi as

Bret "the Hitman" Hart Bret Sergeant Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal ...

(season 3) * Eltony Williams as Chad Frost, a fictional wrestler (season 3)

2032

* Randall Park as a future version of himself who has retired from acting and now is the host of his own news show ''The Straight Line with Randall Park'' * Kenny Smith as a future version of himself, now a solo sports show host, unlike '' Inside the NBA'' *

Rosario Dawson Rosario Isabel Dawson (born May 9, 1979) is an American actress. She made her feature-film debut in the 1995 independent drama '' Kids''. Her subsequent film roles include '' He Got Game'' (1998), '' Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), ''Men in B ...

as General Monica Jackson, the VP candidate for Dwayne Johnson's presidential campaign * Ata Johnson cameos as a future version of herself during an interview between Dwayne and Randall, and in the season 1 finale *

Ed Orgeron Edward James Orgeron Jr. (; born July 27, 1961), nicknamed "Coach O", is an American former American football, college football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at Louisiana State University (LSU), a position he held from midw ...

cameos as a future version of himself during an interview between Dwayne and Kenny Smith * Chelsey Crisp as Casey, a member of Dwayne's campaign staff (season 2) * Jenna Kanell as Jamie, the camerawoman on ''The Straight Line with Randall Park'' (season 2, episodes 4 and 11) *

Dawnn Lewis Dawnn Jewel Lewis (born August 13, 1961) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Jaleesa Vinson–Taylor on the NBC television sitcom ''A Different World'' from the series beginning in 1987 until the end of its fifth season in ...

as Prime Minister Angela Honig (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 Rebecca Quin (born 30 January 1987), better known by the ring name Becky Lynch, is an Irish professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand and is the current WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion in her ...

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...

(season 3, episodes 1 and 12) * Mark Ashworth as Director Lee, director of You Only Live Twice (season 3) *

Clark Duke Clark Duke (born May 5, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films '' Sex Drive'' (2008), '' Kick-Ass'' (2010), '' Hot Tub Time Machine'' (2010), and '' The Croods'' (2013), as well as playing Clark Green in ''The Office ...

as Brian Gewirtz (Season 3, episode 8)

Wrestler cameos

* 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 Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), better known as Jerry "the King" Lawler, is an American retired color commentator and professional wrestler signed to WWE under a Legends contract. Prior to joining the World Wrestling Federati ...

(season 2) * Patrick Cox as Crusher Yurkov (season 2) * James Bolton as

Jeff Jarrett Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he both wrestles and serves as Director of Business Development. He is also ...

(season 2) * Bowie Walton as

Roman Reigns Leati Joseph Anoaʻi ( ; born May 25, 1985), better known by his ring name Roman Reigns, is an American professional wrestler and former gridiron football, football player. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE , where he performs on the Sm ...

(season 2, as a child) * Marcus Molyneux as

Brian Christopher Brian Christopher Lawler (January 10, 1972 – July 29, 2018) was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best remembered for his career in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE), where he performed as "Too Sexy" Brian ...

(season 2) * Cooper Matthews as Brian Lawler (season 2, as a teenager) *

Colt Cabana Scott Colton (born May 6, 1980), better known by the ring name Colt Cabana, is an American professional wrestler, color commentator, and podcaster. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a wrestler and as a coach, and he performs the same ...

as The Brooklyn Brawler (season 2, episode 8) * Brad Burroughs as Michael "P.S." Hayes (season 2) * Richard Carwin as Bill Dundee * Eddy Clinton as

Classy Freddie Blassie Frederick Kenneth Blassie (February 8, 1918 – June 2, 2003) was an American professional wrestler and Manager (professional wrestling), manager, known by the ring name "Classy" Freddie Blassie. Renowned as "The Hollywood Fashion Plate","Classy ...

(season 3) * Benjamin Arthur as Jake "the Snake" Roberts (season 3) * Saxon Cardenas as

Ken Shamrock Kenneth Wayne Shamrock ( né Kilpatrick; born February 11, 1964) is an American retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to WWE under a Legends contract, under the ring name Ken Shamrock. He is best known ...

(season 3) * Miles Burris as

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (; born July 27, 1969), also known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as its chief content officer. Levesque began his wres ...

(season 3) * Anthony Darrell as Bad News Allen (season 3) * Darrell R. Hill as

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who worked for the National Wrestling Alliance ...

(season 3) * Jeff Huth as Sting (season 3) * Dane Davenport as Jim Crockett (season 3) * Sam Puefua as Young

Peter Maivia Fanene Leifi Pita Maivia (born Fanene Pita Anderson; April 6, 1937 – June 13, 1982), better known as Peter Maivia, was a Samoan-American professional wrestler, actor and stunt coordinator. Maivia was the grandfather of Dwayne Johnson, Dwayne ...

(1960s), Dwayne's grandfather, Ata's father and Lia's husband (season 3)

Episodes

Season 1 (2021)

Special (2021)

Season 2 (2022)

Season 3 (2022–23)

Production

Development

On January 11, 2020,

gave a straight-to-series order to ''Young Rock'', a comedy series based on

'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 The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the American-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States ...

, an inflatable CGI float featuring Dwayne Johnson in his 20s was unveiled in promotion of the television show.

Home media

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC (UPHE) is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio owned by NBCUniversal, the entertainment unit of Comcast. UPHE is the home video distributor for all of the ...

released the complete first season of ''Young Rock'' on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and manufacture-on-demand

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

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 Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, 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 Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, 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 James Mark Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American author, sports historian, and podcaster who previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, photographer, promoter, tra ...

for its historical inaccuracy and unflattering portrayal of several wrestlers.

Ratings

Overall

Season 1

Special

Season 2

Season 3

Accolades

The series was one of 101 out of the 200 most-popular scripted television series that received

the ReFrame Stamp The ReFrame Stamp for Gender-Balanced Production certification is awarded by ReFrame to corporations and media that show progress toward gender equality and greater representation of women in key roles. History On June 8, 2018, the ReFrame Sta ...

for the years 2020 to 2021. The stamp is awarded by the gender equity coalition ReFrame and industry database

IMDbPro IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

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.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Dwayne Johnson 2020s American black sitcoms 2020s American political comedy television series 2020s American single-camera sitcoms 2020s American teen sitcoms 2021 American television series debuts 2023 American television series endings American biographical series American professional wrestling television series Cultural depictions of American people Cultural depictions of actors Cultural depictions of professional wrestlers Dwayne Johnson American English-language television shows Television series about families American television series about teenagers Television series based on actual events Television series by Universal Television Television series created by Nahnatchka Khan Television series set in 1982 Television series set in 1987 Television series set in the 1990s Television series set in the 2030s Television shows filmed in Australia Television shows filmed in Georgia (U.S. state) Television shows set in Florida Television shows set in Hawaii Television shows set in Pennsylvania NBC sitcoms