HBO Orders Dwayne Johnson Football-Themed Comedy 'Ballers'

Deadline reports that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will topline the half-hour series ‘Ballers’ in his first major gig on television. Johnson, best known for his wrestling and feature films, is executive producing the series with his co-star Mark Wahlberg from their most recent movie ‘Pain & Gain.’

However, the executive production does not stop with the two stars. Also producing is Wahlberg’s manager and frequent producing partner Steve Levinson, showrunner Even Reilly, and the director of the series pilot, Peter Berg.

‘Ballers,’ written by Levinson, focuses on the the lives of a group of former and current football players with Johnson set to play retired athlete Spencer Strasmore. The cast of characters include a highly spiritual and competitive pro athlete, a deeply-family oriented pro athlete, a wife of an ex-pro athlete, a financial advisor who tries to fit in, and, of course, Johnson’s love interest -- an ESPN sideline reporter played by Taylor Cole.

Much like the wide range of characters, the cast is equally as varied. Denzel Washington’s son John David Washington, Rob Corddry, Troy Garity, Donovan Cater, Jazmyn Simon and LeToya Luckett will all contribute to the series.

The start of 'Ballers’ marks a busy year for Johnson, as he is also set to reprise his role on the ‘Fast & Furious 7’ movie, which was delayed by the tragic death of Paul Walker. Johnson also has the feature ‘Hercules,’ as well as the TNT reality series ‘Wake Up Call’ on the brink of premiering. As a jack-of-all trades, who knows, maybe he’ll even join the NFL.