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Young Rock EP Dwayne Johnson Offers Prod Update: "Gotta Be Authentic"

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (WWE superstar, Ballers, Jumanji: The Next Level) wants to make sure his fans know how things are flowing with the production on NBC's upcoming dramedy based on the multimedia bigwig's early years. Taking to Instagram, Johnson shared an image of himself with series creator and writer Nahnatchka Khan (Fresh Off the Boat) going over a script to fine-tune the dialogue for authenticity. "Excellent work week on set of our new TV series, "YOUNG ROCK" coming soon to @NBC. Working very closely with our series creator, Nahnatchka Khan. She's a brilliant (and very funny) creative partner who I trust with my wild life story growing up.," Johnson commented in his post. "We examine every word from every character because these are all real people, real family who are still in my life and those who have passed away. Gotta be authentic and get it right. The good, the bad, the heartbreaking, the heartwarming and the f*cking hilarious. Can't wait for you guys to watch this show."

Here's a look at Johnson's post from Sunday afternoon:

Khan is developing the series and co-writing 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!

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