Actor Dwayne Johnson’s ‘Soundtracks’ series gets CNN debut date

Actor and former World Wrestling Entertainment star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s new CNN original series, “Soundtracks: Songs That Defined History” will make its debut on April 20, according to the network.  

The eight-part series will examine music associated with the most pivotal moments in modern U.S. history, including the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Sept. 11 attacks, and Hurricane Katrina.

The series will feature interviews with public figures from media and the arts including Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Smokey Robinson, Patti LaBelle, George Clinton, Anderson Cooper, Van Jones, Dan Rather, Billie Jean King, Neil DeGrasse Tyson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, among others.

{mosads}“We are excited to be partnering with CNN and Show of Force to take our global audience on a unique journey through the songs that define some of our nation’s most pivotal turning-points,” said executive producers and Seven Bucks Productions co-founders Johnson and Dany Garcia.

“Music is our soul, and we have a deep appreciation for it here at Seven Bucks and the defining role it plays in helping to tell our stories.”

Johnson, 44, won a college football national championship as a defensive tackle at the University of Miami in 1991 before joining the WWE in 1996. He would go on to achieve national stardom as “The Rock” before becoming a major force in Hollywood as an actor.

The latest installment of the “Fast and Furious” action movie franchise, “The Fate of the Furious” starring Johnson, will be in theaters on April 14.

According to Forbes, Johnson was 2016’s highest-paid actor, earning more than $64.5 million last year. 

The series will premiere Thursday, April 20, at 10 p.m. on CNN.