Pedro Pascal says The Last of Us and The Mandalorian 'inspire each other'
"They couldn't be more similar and they couldn't be more different."
Pedro Pascal's gruff lone wolf is unwittingly paired with an adoptive child of sorts, on a mission to protect them from the terrors of a dangerous world.
That sentence could describe Pascal's portrayal of Din Djarin in the Disney Plus Star Wars series The Mandalorian. Or it could equally sum up his turn as Joel Miller in The Last of Us, HBO and Sky Atlantic's buzzy new TV show based on the hit video game franchise.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other press over Zoom, Pascal admitted to the similarity. He said: "Yeah, it's fascinating because they couldn't be more similar and they couldn't be more different, I think."
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He added: "I think that the stories inspire one another, and they inspire me, and their form and their execution is so different.
"For me, it's like, I couldn't think of a better way to double dip. So I'm very lucky, I'll probably never get the chance again."
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Donning a shiny suit of armour to protect Baby Yoda may not be exactly the same as pulling on a chequered shirt to evade zombies and swap reluctant banter with Bella Ramsey's Ellie, but Pascal noted similarities behind the scenes as well.
"Primarily, the thing for me was, I just felt so lucky to be under the guide of of showrunners that love the project as much as Jon Favreau [on The Mandalorian] and Craig Mazin [on The Last of Us] do."
And how did Pascal react when he saw the responses to his casting in the role of Joel, especially when some vocal fans pointed out that he doesn't look physically identical to his fictional video game counterpart?
Pascal responded with a joke, saying: "I just felt really sad I couldn't grow a full beard. It's so patchy. But that's just genes."
Ramsey was in a similar boat (minus the beard), and Pascal added: "We both knew that there were so many fans of something that was already there, and was established in a very specific way, and the opportunity to honour that and expand on it is a big challenge.
"And we want people to be happy. But more than anything, we want the story to be told to its best ability, and that is a scary and exciting thing. But ultimately, it's in the hands of people that love the source material very, very deeply."
The Last of Us is exclusively available from 16th January on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW.
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