‘The Last of Us’ Co-Creator Says Matthew McConaughey Was in Talks to Star as Joel

It may be hard to imagine anyone other than Pedro Pascal playing Joel in The Last of Us, but series co-creator Craig Mazin confirmed that an Oscar-winning actor was also in talks for the role.

During a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, the show’s boss noted that he “did talk to Matthew [McConaughey]” at one point.

“I can’t say that it was like a series [of conversations]. It was more of a, ‘Hey, here’s something to talk about,’” he explained. “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 went on to detail Pascal’s excitement for the series after reading the script for the first time.

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

After thinking “that was a pretty good sign,” they all got on a Zoom and “had what I think was maybe the most wonderful Zoom I’ve ever had. I mean…just love at first sight, and he was so immediately insightful about it.”

Pascal starred opposite Bella Ramsey, who played Ellie, in the hit action drama. Mazin and video game creator Neil Druckmann served as the show’s writers and showrunners.

Mazin added, “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.”

During The Hollywood Reporter‘s Drama Actor Roundtable last month, Pascal also talked about the pressure he felt doing a show that already had a huge fan base for the Last of Us game.

“This time around, I was scared. I was so scared,” the actor said during the conversation. “Because there was more of an exposed silhouette, a silhouette of coolness maybe, and an expectation to be met as far as what people’s immersive experience of the story was. And to disappoint them in that regard felt like it would be…I don’t know. You don’t want to let people down, but also nobody’s impervious to disappointing people. I want people to like me.”