Dwayne Johnson Rumors: Is ‘Expendables’ Role In His Future?

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is rumored to be the latest action star to join the cast of the Expendables franchise. News of the potential casting for The Expendables 4 comes as Sylvester Stallone is said to be working on a script for the movie. Dwayne Johnson seems a perfect fit with the ensemble cast of action heroes, mostly muscle men (and now women).

While Dwayne Johnson became known to audiences through his wrestling career with the WWE, he proved his acting merit with his role as Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns (2001) and its sequel The Scorpion King(2002). Dwayne Johnson again joined an established film franchise with Fast Five(2011), Fast And Furious 6 (2013) and this year’s Furious 7 (2015).

#TBT November 15, 1998. The night I became the youngest Heavyweight Champion in WWE history – helping usher in what would become the greatest era in pro-wrestling – #TheAttitudeEra. What made this era so unique, was that it was just before the WWE became a publicly trade company and in many ways it was “The Wild Wild West” which inherently fostered a wilder, crazier and hungrier roster of superstars. It also attracted hard core rowdier crowds nightly which always made it fun for us. It was an iconic era in wrestling and I’ll be forever grateful to all “the boys” who I had the honor of dropping sweat and spilling blood with (back when we were allowed to bleed) all over the world. Btw, the night this title and “torch was passed” to me in St. Louis, I celebrated the only way I was used to… straight to the Waffle House baby. #IfYouThinkImCrazyNow #YouShouldveSeenMeDuringTheAttitudeEra #WhenThereWereNoCameraPhones #YoungestWWEHeavyweightChamp #ThankYouBrothaMick #Grateful ??

A photo posted by therock (@therock) on Oct 15, 2015 at 1:57pm PDT

While there have been many WWE wrestlers who have tried to make the crossover into acting, like Steve Austin and Randy Savage, none has had as much success as Dwayne Johnson. As Movie Pilot observes, Dwayne Johnson has the winning combination of acting ability and charisma that other wrestlers have lacked. Furthermore, Dwayne Johnson has shown that his acting talent can transcend genres: comedy with Kevin Hart in Central Intelligence (2016), drama in San Andreas (2015), and even family TV in Wizards of Waverly Place (2009) prove that there is more to the actor than just his muscles.

While Dwayne Johnson and his friendly disposition might lead some to believe that his role in The Expendables 4 will be with the good guys, both Dwayne Johnson and Sylvester Stallone want the role to be of a bad guy. Back in 2014, Dwayne Johnson took part in a Reddit AMA and was asked whether he would consider starring in The Expendables 4 movie.

“If you’re asking if I would consider being in the Expendables franchise, then the answer is yes. But… I don’t want to be on their team and be buddies with them… I want to hunt every single one of them down.”

Dwayne Johnson then elaborated on the fate of his potential The Expendables 4 cast mates. At least two of them would live on, as “The Rock” has a soft spot for Ronda Rousey and Terry Crews.

“Rousey lives cause she’d be my character’s training partner. Crews lives as well ’cause my character would need someone to compete at pec popping with.”

While both The Expendables (2011) and The Expendables 2 (2012) were huge box office successes, The Expendables 3(2014), while still making a lot of money, opened to less than expected revenue. The reason for this might have been that a pirated version of The Expendables 3 was leaked on the internet three weeks before its release date.

The Expendables 4, then is a chance for the franchise to come back stronger. As The Day Herald reports, many fans are looking to see what develops for the film. Sylvester Stallone seems to be aware of this last chance for the franchise, as he has been in contact with past stars to ensure they will return for The Expendables 4.

https://instagram.com/p/8qHFczIh4j/?taken-by=therock

Along with rumors of Dwayne Johnson appearing in The Expendables 4, there are also reports that Hulk Hogan and even Pierce Brosnan may be a part of it. Hulk Hogan has long been a fan of Sylvester Stallone, and apparently the two have discussed possibilities for The Expendables 4. Hulk Hogan shared details about his conversation with Sylvester Stallone recently.

“We had a great conversation, talking about the possibilities. Can I still run, can I still jump? Well, not as fast or not as high, but I think Hollywood could find a good stunt man to help me out”.

If the rumors are indeed true, and Dwayne Johnson finds himself as the villain in The Expendables 4, it should be enough to pump up the excitement for the franchise. If all goes according to plan, filming is set to start in 2016 and The Expendables 4 – with or with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – will be in theaters in 2017.

[Image by Jesse Grant/Getty Images]