How NBC’s ‘Young Rock’ honors professional wrestling, Dwayne Johnson

For Nahnatchka Khan, the showrunner of “Young Rock”, few television shows of her youth evoke the visceral feeling that comes from wrestling.

Of course, the times her father woke her up to watch classic movies like “Ben-Hur,” “Guys and Dolls” and “Casablanca” laid the foundation for her critical thinking on storytelling and character building. But more memorable were the times she reunited with her extended family, many of whom didn’t speak English, to lose herself in the rowdy world of professional wrestling – swept up in the theatrics of characters like Roddy Piper, Andre the Giant, Hulk. Hogan and the Iron Sheik.

“It’s not like we can sit back and watch ‘Laverne & Shirley’ together, because they couldn’t figure out what was going on,” Khan says. “But we could all watch the fight together because there is a spectacle there that they understood. They understood the narration. It’s transcendent, in a way. This shared experience, for me, is what makes me so nostalgic when I think back to that time, that time.

She saw this era a lot with her latest project, “Young Rock”. Inspired by the life of professional wrestler turned mega Hollywood star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the NBC sitcom, created by Khan with Jeff Chiang, dramatizes Johnson’s journey over four training periods in his life – from childhood to marveling in front of his father. , a WWF star, and his wrestling friends at an imaginary future presidential race. (Khan isn’t the only family member whose childhood interest in pro wrestling has become a part of his career: his brother Nick, a former CAA agent, is now WWE President.)

Khan made his Hollywood debut writing for children’s television in ABC’s Saturday morning series “Pepper Ann.” She gradually built her TV CV from there, working on shows such as “Malcolm in the Middle”, “Good Morning, Miami” and “American Dad” before directing her own creations. Its debut was ABC’s short-lived “Don’t Trust the B – in Apartment 23”, followed by the groundbreaking family comedy “Fresh Off the Boat,” which ended last year with its sixth season.

Recently, during a video call from his office in Hollywood, Khan spoke about filming in another country during a pandemic, his biggest regret about his days running “Don’t Trust the B”, and what is that of frequently receiving voice memos from The Rock. The following conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.