The Young Rock Season 3 Premiere Is All About Navigating Failure

The wait is over, people. The Young Rock Season 3 premiere has finally arrived. And as series co-creator Nahnatchka Khan teased in an interview, we're examining the ups and downs of failure. Specifically, Dwayne Johnson losing his presidential election.

"We’re embracing that it didn’t go his way," Khan previously told SyFy. "It’s exciting for us storytelling-wise, and I think [it is for] Dwayne, too….we’re all excited for the place that we’re set up for in Season 3 where [we ask], ‘How does he respond to this?’ Really wanting to feel the impact of it."

As expected, Johnson handles the failure with grace, and he takes a break from the public eye for a year to navigate his feelings. However, after a humiliating interaction with a child goes viral, Randall Park makes a house-call to see how Johnson is holding up. Despite his calm demeanor, Park realizes Johnson is struggling to cope with the realization that the people “don’t need him.”

A similar sentiment is explored in flashbacks, when the Johnson family faces adversity, particularly during the rise of WrestleMania in 1985. A collegiate injury forces young-adult Johnson to rethink his future, and his father, Rocky (Joseph Lee Anderson), is excluded from the WrestleMania 1 lineup. 

But instead of crumbling under pressure, Rocky heads overseas to Saudi Arabia in search of more wrestling opportunities, despite having to deal with the fallout back home. The episode ends on a major cliffhanger, with adult Johnson receiving an unexpected call from the president asking for his help with a national emergency. What the commander-in-chief tells our favorite movie star-slash-wrestler brings things full circle: “The people need you."

Johnson's failure losing the presidency has birthed a new opportunity, it seems, but what is it? To find out, watch Young Rock Fridays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC and the next day on ​​Peacock