Sean Astin will play Dwayne Johnson’s childhood nemesis, the grudge-holding chiropractor Dr. Julian Echo, in “Young Rock” Season 2, NBC confirmed to TheWrap on Monday.
Astin will be a recurring guest star in the flash-forward segments of the NBC comedy, which returns on March 15. The character appears before election day 2032, claiming that Dwayne tried to kill him when he was a boy, an allegation that might ruin the former wrestler’s presidential bid.
Astin’s recent TV credits include playing heroic Bob Newby on “Stranger Things” and guest turns on “The Big Bang Theory,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Supergirl.” He also narrated Crackle’s “Playing with Power: The Nintendo Story.” Astin is repped by Stewart Talent, Luber/Roklin, and Attorney Dave Feldman.
Arlyn Broche (“Ballers”) also joins Season 2 as Johnson’s real-life ex-wife, Dany Garcia. The head of The Garcia Companies and TGC Management was married to Johnson from 1997 to 2008. They share a daughter, Simone Alexander.
The series, which is based on Johnson’s life before he became a wrestling and acting superstar, features Johnson as himself, Uli Latukefu as Dwayne from age 18-20, Bradley Constant at 15, and Adrian Groulx at age 10.
“Young Rock,” NBC’s most-watched sitcom of 2021, also stars Joseph Lee Anderson, Stacey Leilua, Ana Tuisila, Fasitua Amosa, John Tui and Matthew Willig.
The series was created by Nahnatchka Khan and Jeff Chiang and is executive produced by Khan, Chiang, Johnson, Garcia, Jennifer Carreras, Hiram Garcia, Brian Gewirtz and Jeffrey Walker. It’s produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, Seven Bucks Productions and Fierce Baby Productions.
Variety first reported the story.