Dwayne Johnson Has Been Canceled
DWayne Johnson's sitcom, Young Rock, has been canceled after three seasons on NBC.
Don’t worry, movie star and former professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson hasn’t unleashed an indefensible social media tirade. Nor have any revelations about unsavory behavior been uncovered. Rather, Dwayne Johnson has been “canceled” according to the phrase’s original definition — his NBC comedy Young Rock will not get a fourth season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Young Rock, which premiered on NBC in 2021, stars Dwayne Johnson as Dwayne Johnson. It also stars Adrian Groulx as Dwayne Johnson, Bradley Constant as Dwayne Johnson, and Uli Latukefu as Dwayne Johnson. It’s about Dwayne Johnson.
The story centers around Dwayne Johnson (played by Dwayne Johnson) running for the 2032 presidential election, and participating in interviews and other conversations about his earlier life. This inevitably leads to flashbacks about Johnson’s earlier life, with the three younger portraying him at different stages of his life. The show was generally praised by critics for its humor and insight into The Rock‘s past, but that alone wasn’t enough to save the comedy from getting axed.
This cancelation of Dwayne Johnson’s semi-biographical comedy comes as the show has demonstrated declining ratings, averaging less than 1.5 million viewers per episode in its final season. What’s even worse is that Season 3’s most-watched episode (“The People Need You, which brought in 1.81 million viewers) attracted fewer eyes than Season 2’s least-watched episode (“Rocky’s Code,” which brought in 1.87 million viewers. This is a far cry from the success of Season 1, which averaged just over 3 million viewers per episode.
These low ratings and Young Rock‘s cancelation comes as no surprise to industry insiders, who noted that Season 3 of the comedy series was rescheduled for Friday nights — colloquially known as the “Friday Night Death Slot” — a time slot that usually leads to a series cancelation. Dozens of shows are believed to have fallen victim to this time slot over the years, including the original Star Trek, the classic sitcom Family Matters, the spy thriller Mission: Impossible, and the short-lived (and posthumously loved) sci-fi show Firefly. The supposed reason for this trend is well-known: people with disposable income don’t usually stay home on Friday nights.
Thankfully for fans of Dwayne Johnson’s now-defunct series, the writers of Young Rock seem to have expected the series’ cancellation. By the end of Season 3, practically the entirety of Dwayne Johnson’s life had been covered prior to his departure from the WWE. Each time period portrayed in flashback neatly ties up with the beginning of the next time period, making the season finale work as a functional series finale.
The three-season tale of Dwayne Johnson’s life wasn’t the only series to get canceled by NBC. Grand Crew, a sitcom centered around a group of friends who regularly meet at a wine bar — was canceled after two seasons. American Auto, NBC’s sitcom about an automotive company that hires a clueless CEO, has so far avoided cancelation.
All three seasons of Young Rock are currently available for streaming on Peacock and Hulu.
