Well, this is surprising. The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal has nabbed another high-profile role in a completely different universe. As first reported by , he will play the leading role of Joel in HBO’s adaptation of the video game . The news of Pascal’s casting comes hot on the heels of Game of Thrones alum Bella Ramsey being revealed as taking on the co-leading role of Ellie.
Pascal’s casting was confirmed by Neil Druckmann, who wrote the video game and is also serving as a writer on the series. “Aaaaand there’s the other half,” he wrote of Pascal in a . “Stoked to have Pedro aboard our show!”
What’s interesting about Pascal’s casting is that, per Deadline, The Last of Us has first position. That means HBO essentially has first dibs on scheduling the actor. However, given that his character on The Mandalorian stays masked nearly all of the time he’s on-screen, chances are that won’t be too difficult.
Thus far, a release date for HBO’s take on The Last of Us has not been announced. With the announcement of the two leading cast members, though, clearly production is moving closer and closer to launching. As for how the show will compare to the game, executive producer Craig Mazin has said the plan is to introduce characters and events fans of the game series have yet to experience.
Don’t worry about it skewing too far from the story told in the games, though. “I think fans of something worry that, when the property gets licensed to someone else, those people don’t really understand it, or are going to change it,” Mazin said. “In this case, I’m doing [the series] with the guy who [created the game], and so the changes that we’re making are designed to fill things out and expand, not to undo, but rather to enhance [the source material].”
Image credit: Getty Images/Toni Anne Barson/Contributor
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