The Last of Us: Did you know Pedro Pascal was not the first option for the role?

Pedro Pascal became an instant sensation after his performance in the HBO series ‘The Last of Us.’ And while the Chilean actor had previously starred in many other projects, including Disney’s ‘The Mandalorian,’ he quickly achieved a new level of fame after fans of the video game and the series praised him for his incredible acting skills as Joel.

Now actor Jeffrey Pierce, who plays the rebel soldier Perry and voiced Tommy in the game, has shared some details with The Direct about the casting process. Pierce was asked if he ever thought he would be playing Tommy in the series.

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“No, not in the course of the HBO show,” he said, revealing that there had been different versions of the project. “There was a movie at one point. There was a motion-capture cinematic animated series at one point. And both of those are things that I thought, ‘I got a pretty good shot at being involved to some degree.’”

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He also talked about the casting process for Joel, as he was one of the most coveted roles in the storyline. “I think initially they had talked to Mahershala Ali about playing Joel, which is an obvious cue that I’m not gonna play Tommy… And when they cast Pedro [Pascal], I knew like, yeah, that was certainly not going to happen regardless, I’m older than Pedro Pascal. So I was not under harboring any illusions about that, for sure.”

Mahershala Ali was ultimately not offered the role of Joel, however he continues to work closely with HBO. The Oscar winner is currently preparing to portray the famous Boxer Jack Johnson in an upcoming film titled ‘Unruly.’