EXCLUSIVE: In one of the biggest TV castings of the year, The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal is set to headline The Last Of Us, HBO’s high-profile series adaptation of the Sony Playstation franchise from Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann.
Based on the critically acclaimed video game The Last of Us, developed by Naughty Dog exclusively for the PlayStation platforms, the story takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel (Pascal), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Game of Thrones‘ Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
Pascal’s Joel, tormented by past trauma and failure, must trek across a pandemic-ravaged America, all the while protecting a girl who represents the last hope of humanity.
This marks a homecoming for Pascal who became a household name with his role as Oberyn Martell on HBO’s mega hit Game Of Thrones.
Pascal currently stars in Disney+’s hugely popular and acclaimed series The Mandalorian, which recently received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Drama Series. He will continue on the Star Wars series, where he is used sparingly because of the nature of his character, though The Last Of Us has him in first position.
The actor recently became available for a new series, attracting multiple big offers from top premium networks and streamers, opting to do The Last Of Us.
Pascal is coming off starring as the villain, Max Lord, in Wonder Woman 1984. The Narcos and Kingsman: The Golden Circle star is currently in production on Judd Apatow’s The Bubble for Netflix. He is repped by WME, Anonymous Content and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
Kantemir Balagov is directing the pilot episode of The Last Of Us, a co-production with with Sony Pictures Television. PlayStation Productions, Word Games, The Mighty Mint, and Naughty Dog.
Druckmann and Mazin write and executive produce; Carolyn Strauss (Game of Thrones, Chernobyl) also executive produces along with Naughty Dog president Evan Wells alongside Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan of PlayStation Productions.