Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson seems to have quite an interesting life for it to be worthy to be adapted into a sitcom.
Young Rock is a sitcom based on the life of Dwayne Johnson, who is popularly known by his ring name “The Rock”. Johnson is a professional wrestler and the series is said to be based on real events from the incredible man’s life.
The series is based on the premise that Johnson is running as a presidential candidate in the 2032 elections. In each episode of the series, Johnson sits for an interview or a conversation of sorts where he describes and thus leads us to a flashback to a story from his life.
The incidents of his life he describes can be from any of the three parts of his life: a ten year old boy in Hawaai, as a high school student in Pennsylvania or a college student in the University of Miami.
According on an interview with the New York Times, Young Rock is completely based on real events.
Young Rock is totally based on true events from Dwayne Johnson’s life. However, series creator Nahnatchka Khan might have altered certain details, locations or times of certain incidents to fit the premise of the show for television or make it more interesting.
According to Johnson’s interview with the New York Times, each episode has been taken from a certain incident of his life and was conceptualized by series creator Nahnatchka Khan. He also described how they came up with three timelines for the series.
So, how much of Young Rock is real and how much fictionalized? Here’s what we have.
1. Is Young Rock Based On Dwayne Johnson’s Real Life?
For the most part, surely yes. In his interview with the NY Times, The Rock said,
It required a lot of hours of sitting down with [series creator Nahnatchka Khan], just talking and sharing stories and then walking away, going back home, writing things down, meeting back again, going over more stories.
Dwayne Johnson
In the show, Johnson talks of three distinct phases, all being absolutely accurate of his real life. The first phase refers to his childhood, the second his high school years and third, his college years.
All three phases, as seen in the show takes place in different locations, namely Hawaii (childhood), Pennsylvania (high school) and Miami (college).
Referring to the concept of dividing his life into three phases, Johnson added, “Once we chopped up a lot of years, Nahnatchka and her team went back and they sifted through everything. And they came back with the concept of three timelines, at 10, 15 and 18, which were defining years of my life.”
At most parts, though real, the sitcom is a little different from usual autobiographical series or shows. Johnson explains that he randomly picked up certain incidents and anecdotes that could feature in the show and narrated it to Khan, so she could put them into perspective.
Johnson describes the process in his interview,
“I poured myself a lot of tequilas and I was able to jog my memory. I would leave Nahnatchka these voice notes, after my second or third drink, and say, listen, you’re never going to believe this. But I’ll tell it to you anyway. And then we would talk the next day. “
Dwayne Johnson
2. How Accurate Is Young Rock?
Though Young Rock is described by Johnson himself as being as accurate as possible with his real life incidents and experiences, it is obvious that some of it is fictionalized.
The actor himself agrees and approves of the fact. Though accurate in most parts, some incidents may have been twisted or the locations, premises or people involved has been slightly altered.
However, none of it is too big to change the actual incident or how it affected Dwayne in his life. For instance, Waffle’s story.
Season 1 introduced us to Waffle, who is Dwayne’s new friend. He discoveres Waffle slepping in his backseat after he buys his first car. Unfortunately, Waffle faced a fatal ending at the end of the first episode.
According to Nahnatchka, the creator of the Young Rock, the story is real and so is Waffle, except for the ending, which was changed to fit the television. She says,
That was the story he told us. We were like, ‘This is amazing,’ but the ending in the episode isn’t how it went down. … I don’t want to give it away, but he absolutely bought a car from a crackhead.
Nahnatchka Khan
Johnson seems to have a colourful life with several twists and turns and interesting stories to share and the best part is whatever we see, is what actually happened.
However, the scenes which feature a future Johnson ready to run in the presidential election is not true, atleast as of now. We don’t know what will happen in the future but as far as the show is concerned, it is a fictional premise on which the show is based.
3. What To Expect In Season 2?
The quasi-autobiographical sitcom hass been renewed for a Season 2 in April 2021. So, what aspects of Dwayne Johnson’s life can we expect to see in Young Rock Season 2?
He’s had such a big life that, to me, just telling a linear story is sort of doing a little bit of disservice. I kind of wanted to jump around [in time], and he’s got the experiences to justify that.
Nahnatchka Khan
In Season 2, we will definitely get to see more of Johnson’s adult life. The show will most likely focus on how The Rock became a successful wrester. We will also get to see some aspects of his family and hopefully (fingers crossed!), his relationships.
Johnson is said to have a “big fat” life with a lot to tell us. If you’re a a fan of The Rock, this is a show you would definitely enjoy since he has a lot in store for the fans!
4. About Young Rock (2021)
Young Rock (2021) is an American sitcom that narrates the life of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a comical way. The series is developed by Nahnatchka Khan and Johnson himself. The series has received generally positive reviews from critics. In April 2021, the series was renewed for a second season.
As Dwayne Johnson runs for President in 2032 in Young Rock, he takes a comedic look back at his life through his family and youth’s stories, which helped him become who he is. 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: 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.
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