There might not be anyone else in Hollywood having a bigger start to the year than Pedro Pascal. With the weekly release of HBO's The Last of Us, as well as the highly anticipated Season 3 of The Mandalorian coming to Disney+ on March 1st, Pascal is on top of the world right now.
This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, as Pascal has more than proven that he has the acting chops to pull off just about any role given to him. He's already tackled a variety of different roles, from comedy to drama, from traveling across the galaxy with Grogu to becoming a dangerous superfan of Nicolas Cage. Hopefully, this is only the beginning for Pascal.
This article contains mention of sexual assualt.
10 Juan Badillo (Graceland)
Though it's certainly not his career-defining role, Pascal held his own in a recurring role on the USA network show Graceland, which follows a bunch of government agents living together in a beach house in California. Pascal played the role of Juan Badillo, the case officer for Mike Warren.
It wasn't a huge role for Pascal, but he did appear in 10 episodes of the series and played Badillo with a sense of seriousness and superiority. He wasn't a bad guy, though, as he was looking out for Mike and had his best interests in mind.
9 Francisco "Catfish" Morales (Triple Frontier)
Pascal is undeniably more known for his work on television, but that isn't to say that he hasn't carved out a solid career on the big screen. In 2019, he starred alongside Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac in a movie called Triple Frontier, which followed five former soldiers who come together to pull off a heist in South America.
Catfish is somewhat similar to other Pedro Pascal roles, as he's a man who possesses tons of combat skills and has great situational awareness. While it's a lesser-known role, Pascal delivers on all fronts, creating a serious tone for this heist thriller.
8 Pietro Alvarez (If Beale Street Could Talk)
If Beale Street Could Talk is another example of a movie where Pascal doesn't play a main role, but he does play a critical one. The film follows a young black couple in New York City as Alonso Hunt is falsely imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, and his pregnant fiancé is fighting to free him.
Pascal plays the role of Pietro Alvarez, the representative of Victoria, the woman who claims that Alonso is her rapist. He is visited by Alonso's mother in Puerto Rico, where he is skeptical of letting her meet with Victoria. In his one scene, Pascal almost steals the show with his screen presence and acting chops.
7 Agent Whiskey (Kingsman: The Golden Circle)
Pascal has made his way around the franchise gauntlet, and one stop included the Kingsman franchise in the film Kingsman: The Golden Circle. In the movie, he plays Jack Daniels, also known as Agent Whiskey, a spy partner with a dark past who is brought in to help fight the Golden Circle.
Agent Whiskey partners with Eggsy, and the two build up a good rapport. However, Pascal is talented enough to pull off a character who is two-sided, and he does exactly that, as Whiskey switches up on the other Kingsmen to avenge his late wife and child. This role really lets Pascal shine in both comedic and dramatic fashion.
6 Maxwell Lord (Wonder Woman 1984)
While Wonder Woman 1984 didn't land well with audiences, the one bright spot in the movie was undoubtedly Pascal's Maxwell Lord. Lord is the main antagonist of the film, playing a failed businessman looking to use the Dreamstone to resurrect his business.
Lord is a character with a lot of savvy and determination, and Pascal plays into this very well. He comes across as charming yet intimidating, and he ends up stealing the show with his villainous enthusiasm. It's also one of the few roles where he plays the bad guy, showing off his acting range.
5 Javi Gutierrez (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent)
It's hard to imagine that Pedro Pascal isn't a huge fan of Nicolas Cage in real life, but his character in the film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent takes his fandom a bit too far. The movie follows a fictionalized version of Cage, now in debt, befriending a superfan who may or may not be involved in a serious crime.
The role is arguably one of Pascal's funniest, as he develops great chemistry with Cage and delivers great comedic timing while playing into that villainous role well. While most of Pascal's career to this point has been defined by television, this movie is proof that he can do any medium well.
4 Oberyn Martell (Game of Thrones)
Pedro Pascal's big break came when he joined the hit series Game of Thrones in 2014. While he was no more than a recurring character for several episodes, he made a huge impact that led to his career taking off into stardom. He played Oberyn Martell, a hotheaded and bloodthirsty man who can definitely get carried away with his excursions.
Martell isn't a main character, but Pascal got to show off his skills more than ever before with this role. Playing such an angry and violent character takes control, and he commands every scene that he is in.
3 Javier Peña (Narcos)
If Pascal were to have a Mount Rushmore of characters, there's little doubt that Javier Peña would be on there. Narcos is a Colombian show on Netflix that follows the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, one of the biggest drug kingpins ever. Pascal played Peña, a DEA agent looking to take down Escobar.
This is the role that really allowed Pascal to come into his own as a star, playing into the intensity of the battle between Peña and Escobar. The show was a massive success, largely in part to Pascal's contributions.
2 Joel Miller (The Last of Us)
There is no show more popular right now than HBO's The Last of Us, an adaptation of the video game. It follows Joel Miller in an apocalyptic world as he tries to get a girl named Ellie across the country in hopes of saving humanity. The game is massively popular, and there were some concerns about whether Pascal could portray Joel properly. He's already proven that he's more than capable.
Pascal has become one of the best parts of the series so far, with his grueling interpretation of a man who never properly grieved his daughter's death. To play a character who shows little emotion is incredibly difficult, but Pascal makes it look easy. In the moments he's allowed to shine through that front, he does so, leaving everyone running for the tissues.
1 Din Djarin (The Mandalorian)
Pedro Pascal seems to get typecast as the guy who is traveling long distances with a child, but he just fits that profile so well. Perhaps no role is more notable than Din Djarin in The Mandalorian. Din is a lone wolf, but his character development has been fantastic, as he's grown to love Grogu and open himself up, even removing his helmet at one point.
With Season 3 having just released, fans are ecstatic to see what Pascal will do with the role next. It's been a career-defining character for him, with fans everywhere saying the famous line, "This is the way." One thing's for sure — nobody else could do this role like Pedro Pascal can.