Before Pedro Pascal landed the male lead in HBO’s adaptation of the hugely popular “The Last of Us” video game, rumors swirled that co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann were trying to lure former “True Detective” stars Mahershala Ali and Matthew McConaughey back to the network to headline the series. Mazin finally sounded off on the casting rumors during a recent interview on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast.
“I actually never talked to Mahershala,” Mazin said before confirming that talks with McConaughey did in fact take place. However, it sounds like McConaughey’s casting never made it past early discussions about the project.
“I did talk to Matthew,” Mazin said. “I can’t say that it was serious, it was more of just like, ‘Hey, here’s something we can talk about’… It’s one of those things where I’m sure there’s an alternate universe where it’s a different guy. 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.”
Mazin stressed that Pascal “was on our list from the start, but we were told he was unavailable.”
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“As we were floundering about a little bit, I got a call from his agent who said, ‘You know, he actually might be available,'” Mazin continued. “Normally when you send scripts to actors like this, you’re lucky if you get a read within a month. He was in England at the time working on a movie and I thought between the movie and the time change, this will be forever. I sent it on a Friday. Saturday morning I get a call: ‘He loves it. He wants to get a Zoom.'”
Pascal is currently an Emmy contender for his leading role on “The Last of Us,” which is also expected to pick up major nominations for best drama series and more. The show was a monster ratings hit for HBO upon airing, and Pascal will join co-star Bella Ramsey for a second season in the future. Pascal recently sang Ramsey’s praises during a Variety “Actors on Actors” interview with “Beef” star Steven Yeun.
“I could tell they were cool. I knew that. I couldn’t have asked for a more anchoring, generous, thoughtful teenager,” Pascal said of his younger co-star. “And I don’t mean to say that in a patronizing way. They were 17. They had their 18th birthday while we were shooting, and that could have sucked. I relied on Bella for so much of the experience. We were both scared and shy about that, but Bella just inspired me to be mature about it.”
The first season of “The Last of Us” is streaming on Max. Watch Mazin’s full “Happy Sad Confused” interview in the video below.
