Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has repeatedly teased that he might run for president. (A WWE Hall of Fame inductee becoming president? What could go wrong!) “I’m not ruling it out,” he said in 2019. “I’m not ruling out the idea if I could make a bigger impact somehow, or potentially surround myself with good people.” He “lack[s] the experience” now — not an issue for at least 74 million Americans — but he’ll be ready by 2032.
NBC’s new sitcom, Young Rock, takes place during “three points of my life that were defining times,” the actor told Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday’s The Tonight Show. “When I was 10 years old living here in Hawaii; when I was 15 years old, after multiple arrests and doing a lot of things I shouldn’t have been doing; and then when I was 18 years old, when I started to get my life a little bit back on track.” But creator Nahnatchka Khan (Fresh Off the Boat) accurately noted that the audience will want to see Johnson, not just young actors playing Johnson, so she came up with a “creative way” to include the real-life Rock into the show. “What if we set in 2032 and you’re running for president?” she pitched. Johnson was initially hesitant (“I don’t know, it feels a little political”), but Khan won him over by saying, “Well, there might be a few people who might want to see you run for president, so think about it.” And that’s how we got The Rock 2032.
Watch the clip above. Young Rock premieres on February 16.