Pedro Pascal has been working steadily in Hollywood since 1996, but his rise to fame kicked off with his appearance as Dornish playboy prince, Oberyn Martell, in Game of Thrones Season 4. Since then, he's appeared in big-budget films (The Great Wall, Kingsman: The Golden Circle) and television shows (Graceland, The Mentalist, Narcos). Now he stars on the wildly popular Disney+ series Star Wars: The Mandalorian, and he's the antagonist Maxwell Lord in this year's Wonder Woman 1984. However, before all of this, Pascal was an aspiring actor who appeared in a fan favorite series.
Back in the 1990s, Pascal was doing short films and guest roles on television shows, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4, Episode 1, "The Freshman." In the episode, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) starts her freshman year at the University of California, Sunnydale, and she has a hard time adjusting. She's also coping with the traumatic events of the Season 3 finale, which saw her blow up her high school, put fellow slayer, Faith (Eliza Dushku), in a coma and lose her vampire boyfriend, Angel (David Boreanaz).
Pascal appears in the episode as fellow freshman Eddie, who seems just as overwhelmed by college life as Buffy. They run into each other while walking the campus at night, and they discuss how neither of them is comfortable in the college environment yet. The subject of metaphorical "security blankets" comes up, and Buffy mentions her favored stake, Mr. Pointy. Meanwhile, Eddie brings up the novel Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham, a novel about one boy's quest to find his place in the world.
After Eddie and Buffy part ways, vampire Sunday (Katharine Towne) and members of her gang accoste Eddie. They steal everything from his dorm room, but they leave a note behind that makes it seem like he left voluntarily; however, when Buffy investigates, she discovers his copy of Of Human Bondage and doubts the story.
Meanwhile, Eddie has turned into a vampire. Buffy apologizes when she sees him the next night, but Eddie doesn't mind being a vampire and is recruited into Sunday's gang. He then attacks Buffy, but she quickly stakes him and is drawn into conflict with the rest of the vampires. Pascal portrays a side character who's essentially a plot device, but he does play a role in Buffy's transition from high schooler, to college student, to adult woman, and in turn, he plays a role in the show's transition from lighter stories to darker ones.