Since its release in January, HBO’s post-apocalyptic original series The Last of Us has earned Pedro Pascal a ton of media attention. And by now, we all know his portrayal of Joel has sparked even more internet thirst for the actor, especially after he told Entertainment Tonight he is a “cool, slutty daddy.”
However, Pascal wasn’t always a shoo-in for Joel. In fact, an aughts hottie was being considered too: Matthew McConaughey was up for Pascal’s role, according to Variety, who reports that the actor was once in early talks with the series’ execs.
Series co-creator Craig Mazin was recently interviewed on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he shared that he “had talked to Matthew” but “can’t say that it was serious.”
“It was more of just like, ‘Hey, here’s something we can talk about,’” Mazin told Horowitz, describing the situation as “one of those things where I’m sure there’s an alternate universe where it’s a different guy.”
He continued, “Look, Matthew McConaughey is an amazing actor. I’m sure it would’ve been great, but it would’ve been different and I like the one that we made.”
Pascal’s fans can rest assured that he “was on [their] list from the start, but [they] were told he was unavailable.”
When Mazin and his co-creator Neil Druckmann found out that Pascal could be available, they sent him over a script, expecting that Pascal’s work-load and travels to England at the time meant they wouldn’t hear back for a while.
“I sent it on a Friday,” Mazin recalled. “Saturday morning I get a call: ‘He loves it. He wants to get a Zoom.’”
Pascal, who had never even heard of “The Last of Us” video game before the show, remembered his first reaction to the script, telling Deadline, “I had a plan for the next couple of years, and within a 24-hour period, [The Last of Us] intercepted everything because of how special I thought it was.”
The show’s second season is currently in the works, and while we don’t have too much info yet, we do know that it is set to be darker than the first.
While the new season’s release date has yet to be announced, you can stream the first season of The Last of Us on Max.
