Pedro Pascal has addressed the poisonous segment of The Last of Us fans that has criticised the TV series’ diverse cast, emphasising that it is ‘honouring the original source material’.
The new post-apocalyptic series, based on the popular video game franchise of the same name, follows Joel (Pedro), a guy charged with smuggling a little girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the United States.
While a pandemic has destroyed humanity, infecting thousands with a mutant fungus, Ellie is immune to the infection and may hold the secret to a cure.
Although the video games have been hailed for their diversity and inclusion, some vehement fans have criticised the TV programme for casting select actors, such as Nico Parker as Joel’s daughter Sarah.
While Sarah is depicted in the game as white, Nico, the daughter of actress Thandiwe Newton, is mixed race.
When asked how he would respond to said trolls, Pedro, 47, shrugged and told Yahoo Entertainment: ‘Sorry. What is it about it, that characters aren’t cast exactly as they want them to be cast? You can’t make everybody happy.’
‘I think the game is extremely, very revolutionary in its inclusiveness,’ The Mandalorian and Game of Thrones star remarked, paying homage to the original video game. So, essentially, it’s a way of paying homage to the original source material, the way [the TV series’ creators] Craig [Mazin] and Neil [Druckmann] approached casting and telling this tale.’
Bella, 19, chimed in to add: ‘Yeah, 100%.’
Nico, 18, confesses to feeling pressured about her role in the highly anticipated drama The Last of Us ahead of its release.
‘Craig and Neil and everyone were incredibly good at keeping the set away from that mounting pressure,’ she told Deadline.
‘It’s more like the internal, “Oh my God, am I doing justice to this game? Am I doing justice to this character?” But I think it was just trying to separate the two.’
The Dumbo actor added: ‘The show is one thing, the game is the other and to keep the two separate was the main aim, but it was definitely incredibly stressful.’
The Last of Us premieres on Monday January 16 on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV