The lead part in The Last of Us was considered for Matthew McConaughey.
Pedro Pascal was always in the running to play Joel Miller in the HBO series, although there was a brief ‘floundering’ moment when he had a schedule difficulty.
Craig Mazin, co-showrunner, has stated that the Dallas Buyers Club star was one of the persons he consulted with for 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 denied rumours that Mahershala Ali was also in the running for the part, admitting, ‘I have never talked to Mahershala.’
The showrunner couldn’t have been happier to cast Pedro since he instantly connected with the former Game of Thrones actor, however he admitted Matthew would have been ‘wonderful’ in the part as well, even if it would have made for a ‘different’ programme.
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.’
