Could you imagine anyone but Pedro Pascal in The Last of Us? (Picture: HBO/Sky)
Matthew McConaughey was considered for the lead role in The Last of Us.
Pedro Pascal was always in the running to portray Joel Miller in the HBO series, but producers had a brief moment of ‘floundering’ when he had a scheduling conflict.
Co-showrunner Craig Mazin has confirmed the Dallas Buyers Club star was one of the people he spoke to about the possibility of taking on the character.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he said: ‘I did talk to Matthew. I can’t say that it was a series [of conversations]. It was more of a, “Hey, here’s something to talk about.”
‘Pedro was on our list from the start. We were told he was unavailable, and then as we were floundering about a little bit, I got a call from his agent who said, “You know, he actually might be available.” ‘
However Craig has dismissed reports Mahershala Ali had also been in the frame for the role, as he admitted: ‘I actually never talked to Mahershala.’
Matthew McConaughey was being considered (Picture: Tara Ziemba/WireImage)
The showrunner couldn’t have been happier to cast Pedro as he developed an instant connection with the former Game of Thrones actor, though he acknowledged Matthew would also have been ‘great’ in the role, even if it would have made for a ‘different’ show.
He said: ‘Normally when you send scripts to actors like this, you’re lucky if you get a read within a month. I sent [the script] on a Friday, Saturday morning I get a call…he loves it, he wants to get on a Zoom.
‘We got on a Zoom [with Pedro] and had what I think is the most wonderful Zoom I’ve ever had. Just love at first sight and he was so immediately insightful about it.
‘I’m sure there’s a different universe where it’s another actor.
‘And look, Matthew McConaughey is an amazing actor. I’m sure it would have been great, but it would have been different. And I like the one that we made so what can I say, I think it worked out.’
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Would this have worked?