NBC’s ‘Young Rock’ returns to the ring

Get ready for more wrasslin’ action, coming-of-age moments and amusing anecdotes as the NBC sitcom “Young Rock” returns to the screen on Tuesday.

The biographical sitcom based on the life of former Hawaii resident/wrestling champion/movie star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson received critical praise for its humorous portrayal of his life in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. It features many of the colorful characters who played key roles in Johnson’s life.

At a press junket for the show’s second year, Adrian Groulx, who plays Johnson during his childhood years in Hawaii, said he was looking forward to the new season.

“I know it would get crazier and get more exciting as it goes,” he said.

The 12-year-old actor said he sees parallels between his life and his character. His father, Kris, and sister Kiara are both actors, and he has spent a lot of time among adults on television and movie sets.

“Me and young Dwayne, when he was 10, 11 and 12, we all loved being (with) the bigger guys, our dad’s friends or anybody that’s older than us,” said Adrian, who does some wrestling in the new season. “We both really enjoyed spending time with the people who were older … being around the cast members, other wrestlers and stuff. They were really nice, and it was really awesome being with all of them together and having scenes with them.”

One of those elders is actor Matthew Willig, who plays the wrestler Andre the Giant in “Young Rock.” The former NFL lineman said “it’s really a treat” to play a character who was tough in the ring but gentle with children.

“That was the one thing that was told to me very early on by Dwayne, that he loved kids and he loved influencing young people,” said Willig. “It was so nice to work with Adrian. He has that sweet quality about him, like he’s really little Dwayne, sponging it up from you.”

Two other actors play Johnson at later stages of life — Bradley Constant, depicting the high school-aged Johnson, and Uli Latukefu, portraying Johnson as a college student and young adult. They said playing the same character at different stages of life came fairly easily, since they lived in the same hotel in Australia during the shooting and got to know each other.

“Adrian has the difficult job in setting up everything,” said Latukefu. “He’s kind of the anchoring point for us. I have the advantage of looking at Adrian’s performances and Bradley’s performances and kind of tweaking everything for my own performance.”

“Young Rock” has reveled in Hawaii’s wrestling scene. Johnson’s father, Rocky Johnson (Joseph Lee Anderson), competed as part of the promoting agency Polynesian Pro Wrestling, led by his mother-in-law Lia Maivia. She took over after the death of her husband, famed wrestler Peter Maivia.

“Young Rock” is now being credited for bringing that role to light, said Ana Tuisila, a Samoan actress who plays Lia Maivia in the show.

People in the Samoan community “really weren’t aware of how big Lia Maivia was and how she was the driving force behind Peter Maivia and wrestling promotion,” she said. “Very little was known about her — very little — until ‘Young Rock’ came through, not only in Samoa but the world.”

In the upcoming season, Lia goes on trial on charges of extorting a competing boxing promoter. Tuisila is looking forward to telling that story, as well as the rest of Johnson’s colorful past.

“You’ll see more wrestling. You see bigger names in the wrestling field,” she said. “There’s more on the professional level on who these people were, and especially Lia Maivia. She’s such a bad-ass woman. I just love her.”