NBC has given a straight-to-series order for a comedy series based on the childhood of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
According to Variety, Johnson will star in all eleven episodes of the upcoming comedy titled The Young Rock, as well as serve as executive producer. Nahnatchka Khan, who directed Always Be My Maybe and created ABC's Fresh off the Boat, co-wrote the pilot with Jeff Chiang. Khan has also written for American Dad!. Khan is under contract with Universal Television which will serve as the studio.
The Young Rock will not be Johnson's first television show. He starred in Ballers, which ran on HBO for five seasons from 2015 through 2019 and also hosts NBC's competition series The Titan Games.
Johnson's most recent work is his starring role in Jumanji: The Next Level. The film has grossed over $600M worldwide and also stars Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan. Critics and fans alike enjoy the film. It has a 71% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and an 87% rating from fans.
In other NBC-related news, the studio just inked a $200 million deal to bring in Seth MacFarlane from 20th Century Fox. MacFarlane is the creator of Family Guy and had been at Fox for over 20 years.
