Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson Says He’s ‘Full of Gratitude’ as Ballers Announces Series Will End
Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson is reflecting on his time starring in HBO’s Ballers as he announced to fans that the show will not be returning after its fifth season.
The actor, 47, shared that while the show, which he starred in and executive produced, is coming to an end, he is extremely grateful for his role.
After announcing his marriage to longtime girlfriend Lauren Hashian on Monday, “the cool news rolls on,” Johnson told his followers.
He began the lengthy Instagram video Thursday explaining how the show started, and how he became interested in taking on his role as the retired NFL player Spencer Strasmore.
“Five years ago when they came to me with this idea for Ballers, at that time there were really no movie actors or movie stars really doing television,” he said.
“At that time, I really didn’t want to concern myself with what was happening traditionally, I didn’t want to trailblaze, but I certainly wanted to disrupt,” sharing that Ballers was not only a great way for the actor to work with HBO and producers Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson, but to get into topics that hit close to home.
For Johnson, whose football career never fully took off, Ballers meant a lot.
“It was an opportunity to not only embrace culture, not only embrace ambition, not only embrace success — which we do in the show — but also embrace the failures, which is a key and critical thing in life, to learn from them,” he said.
“I was embracing a game, that has been so very good to me personally, and even though things didn’t work out for me and my NFL dreams, and those that I failed at, it was still an opportunity to play a character that loved the game.”
He continued his appreciative clip giving thanks to the fans who helped “create a platform with longevity.”
“Thank you for the support. Thank you for the love. Thank you for rocking with us, thank you for ballin’ with us. And enjoy this final season of Ballers, starting this Sunday,” Johnson said as he grabbed a glass of his go-to drink — tequila. “Cheers.”
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“Cheers to our FINAL SEASON of @HBO’s BALLERS,” Johnson began his heartfelt caption.
“My heart 🖤 is full of gratitude to all of you for rockin’ with us every season. You made us HBO’s highest rated comedy for years and most importantly, you helped create and sustain a platform for other actors to have the OPPORTUNITY to work hard, grow and become household names,” he continued.
“To me, the opportunity Ballers created for so many others, is the real gold of our show. I love you, I thank you and enjoy our final season of BALLERS. This SUNDAY on @HBO.”
Johnson’s good news continued this week as he earned the title of Hollywood’s highest paid male actor for the second year in a row.
The former wrestler has earned an estimated $89.4 million in the last 12 months, according to Forbes, taking in paychecks from his roles in the Fast and Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, the 2018 action film Skyscraper, and Ballers, for which he gets paid $700,000 per episode.
His highest payout yet, however, will come from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which he will collect an upfront salary of up to $23.5 million, according to the outlet.
