It’s hard to imagine The Last of Us without Pedro Pascal, but cocreator Craig Mazin revealed that there was another contender for the role of Joel — Matthew McConaughey.The Oscar winner, 53, was rumored as a possible candidate before Pascal, 48, landed the role in 2021.
Mazin, 52, confirmed the speculation during a recent interview on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast.“I did talk to Matthew,” Mazin recalled. “I can’t say that it was a series [of conversations].
It was more of like, ‘Hey! Here’s something to talk about.'”Mazin also addressed past rumors that Mahershala Ali was also considered for the HBO drama’s lead, saying, “I actually never talked to Mahershala.”According to Mazin, he and cocreator Neil Druckmann — who wrote the video game on which the show is based — were always interested in Pascal, but he wasn’t initially available to film another TV show.
Pascal currently stars as the titular character on The Mandalorian, and his film roster is usually pretty full.“Pedro was on our list from the start.
Read more on usmagazine.com