‘The Last of Us’: Why Matthew McConaughey Almost Played Joel Instead of Pedro Pascal

Hit HBO series The Last of Us could have looked very different. Showrunner Craig Mazin has revealed that Matthew McConaughey was in talks to play the lead role of Joel Miller before its eventual star Pedro Pascal.

“I did talk to Matthew. I can’t say that it was like a series [of conversations]. It was more a case of ‘Hey, here’s something to talk about,'” he explained during a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz.

“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 [McConaughey’s] agent who said, ‘You know, he actually might be available.'”

Mazin oversaw the hit series with Neil Druckmann, who created the 2013 video game on which it is based. The Last of Us, which debuted on HBO in January 2023, co-starred Bella Ramsey as Ellie. It follows two apocalypse survivors who work together to survive a fungal outbreak that has killed most of humanity.

“Matthew McConaughey is an amazing actor,” continued Mazin. “I am 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.”

When Pascal did eventually see the script for the first time he was very passionate about the project.

“Normally when you send scripts to actors like this, you’re lucky if you get a read within a month,” he explained, adding that the actor was working on a film in England at the time. “I sent it [the script] on a Friday, Saturday morning I get a call…he loves it, he wants to get on a Zoom.”

Mazin admitted he thought “that was a pretty good sign” and the Zoom meeting that followed with Pascal proved his gut instinct was right. He had “what I think was maybe the most wonderful Zoom meeting I ever had. I mean, just love at first sight, and he was so immediately insightful about it.”

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The Last of Us went on to become an instant success and was quickly renewed for a second season. Casting for Season 2 has already begun but was put on hold because of the writers’ strike. Filming had been due to start at the end of this year with a late 2024 or early 2025 broadcast date penciled in.