Posted in: NBC, Preview, Sports, streaming, TV, WWE | Tagged: bleeding cool, cable, dwayne johnson, nbc, preview, streaming, television, the rock, tv, wrestling, wwe, young rock

Young Rock: Dwayne Johnson Signals Start in Suit We Couldn't Pull Off

Less than two months after Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (WWE superstar, Ballers, The Titan Games, Jumanji: The Next Level) revealed the cast for NBC's Young Rock, the mega-multi-talent took to Instagram on Friday with even better news: production was officially underway. Rocking probably one of the best suits we've seen in a long time and one we could never pull off without looking like three kids in a trenchcoat trying to pass off being an adult, Johnson wrote, "A pleasure to officially kick off production for our new [NBC] series, 'YOUNG ROCK'. A comedy series about my wild and often unbelievable childhood and crazy teen years. Before you understand where I'm comin' from, you gotta understand where I came from. I've never done anything like this before. This one's special and I think you're gonna like it. Life's unpredictable journey… Let's shoot.".

Fresh Off the Boat creator Nahnatchka Khan will develop the series and co-write the pilot with Jeff Chiang (Fresh Off the Boat), with Johnson set to appear in each episode. NBC's Young Rock is executive produced by Khan, Johnson, Chiang, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Brian Gewirtz, and Jennifer Carreras. The show will be produced by Universal Television, Seven Bucks Productions, and Fierce Baby Productions.

Set to premiere in 2021, the cast of Young Rock includes Adrian Groulx as Johnson (aka Dewey) at age 10 – described as honest, headstrong, impressionable, and bold. Bradley Constant portrays Johnson at age 15, where he's doing his best to fit in as a normal teenager but puberty has other ideas. His size and full mustache have his classmates convinced he's an undercover cop. Uli Latukefu's Johnson (age 18-20) has just been recruited to play football on a full scholarship at powerhouse University of Miami. Though a superstar talent, a devastating injury during his freshman year puts his life at a crossroads.

Stacey Leilua portrays Johnson's mother Ata Johnson, who grew up in a first-generation pro wrestling family. A strong woman by both nature and necessity, she's a hopeful positive force in young Dwayne's life. Joseph Lee Anderson portrays Rocky Johnson, Dwayne's father. Described as charismatic and charming, the pro wrestling champion juggles the ups and downs of his career with being a well-intentioned, but unorthodox, husband and father. Ana Tuisila's Lia Maivia is Ata's mother and Johnson's grandmother. The first female pro-wrestling promoter in the country, Lia is a sweet, loving grandmother- but when need be? She can easily be a cutthroat, ruthless businesswoman.

At the beginning of the year when news of the series was first announced, Johnson took to Instagram to offer his thoughts on what it felt like to be bringing his childhood story to the small screen:

For the first time ever I'm bringing you along with me to experience my insanely unbelievable childhood, teenage years and adolescence. My close friends refer to me as the big, brown tattooed Forrest Gump because of everyone and everything that has weaved in and out of my surreal life. I've seen it all my friends – success, failure, homelessness, evictions, suicide attempts, arrests, hard times, good times, low times, high times. And all this shit happened to me by the time I turned 21 😂🤦🏽‍♂️ This is a show about my young life. And the lessons I learned. The good, the bad, the ugly but ALWAYS FUNNY 😂 Excited to bring you on this journey of taking a look at my past life, thru the lens of what the future holds. And who knows what that might 😉🇺🇸 be. @nbc @sevenbucksprod #fiercebabyproductions #YOUNGROCK Coming soon!

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!