There are plenty of parallels to be drawn between the careers of Dwayne Johnson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, which were first hammered home almost two decades ago when the Austrian icon made what many deemed to be a passing of the torch cameo in The Rundown, one of Johnson’s first major starring roles.
Both men overcame relatively humble origins to become household names thanks largely to their natural charisma, hulking physiques and success in athletic competition. They’ve also conquered Hollywood by dominating the action genre as massive A-list stars regularly pocketing upwards of $20 million per film, and there’s been constant speculation that Johnson might look to emulate Schwarzenegger’s time in politics by one day running for president.
A decade ago, the idea of a major celebrity holding the most powerful office in the United States would have sounded fanciful at best, but as recent history as shown, nothing can be ruled out anymore. There’s every chance Schwarzenegger himself could have been elected president if his push to change the naturalization laws had succeeded, but the first trailer for NBC’s upcoming comedy Young Rock teases that Johnson might now be planning to run in the future.
The framing device of the promo, and potentially the entirety of the show itself, sees 2032 presidential candidate Dwayne Johnson reflecting on his upbringing during an interview as we see his evolution from nomadic child to gigantic high school student, all backed by the bizarre cast of supporting characters that come with the territory when you’re raised in the thick of the professional wrestling industry.
It might just be a sly in-joke, but Johnson hasn’t definitively ruled out a run at the presidency in the future, and stranger things have definitely happened.