‘Young Rock’: Dwayne Johnson Teams With Nahnatchka Khan For NBC Comedy Series Inspired By Him

Nellie Andreeva

NBC has given an 11-episode straight-to-series order to Young Rock, a single-camera comedy inspired by Dwayne Johnson, also known by his ring name, The Rock. The project comes from Johnson and Fresh Off the Boat creator/executive producer Nahnatchka Khan.

Young Rock will chronicle Johnson’s formative years, with Dwayne set to appear in each episode. The pilot was co-written by Khan and Fresh Off the Boat co-executive producer Jeff Chiang.

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The series is produced by Universal Television, where Khan is in the first year of a four-year overall deal, Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions and Khan’s Fierce Baby Productions.

Executive producers are Chiang, Fierce Baby’s Khan and Jennifer Carreras and Severn Bucks’ Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia and Brian Gewirtz.

The project was taken out last fall, with NBC buying it preemptively with a big commitment. It is the second high-profile single-camera comedy from Universal TV the network has given a straight-to-series order for next season, along with an L.A. Mayor project from Tina Fey and Robert Carlock starring Ted Danson.

“The show will feature Dwayne as he grows up through life,” NBCEntertainment Chairman Paul Telegdy said during the network’s TCA executive session when announcing the project. “It’s Dwayne’s life brought to live by a brilliant and soulful writer like Nahnatchka.” He noted that Young Rock was the first pitch Khan brought to NBC under her overall deal. She and Johnson pitched the concept together.

Johnson has an existing relationship with NBC through The Titan Games. Johnson and Garcia will return to executive produce the second season of the reality series, which is hosted by Johnson.

Johnson currently stars in Jumanji: The Next Level which has grossed over $600M worldwide and will next star in Disney’s Jungle Cruise.

Khan’s Fresh Off the Boat is currently airing its sixth and final season on ABC. She previously created and exec produced Don’t Trust the B—- In Apartment 23, which ran for two seasons on ABC. Under the Uni TV deal, Fierce Baby also has an L.A. private school comedy Valley Trash from Niki Schwartz-Wright at ABC as put pilot.

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