Pedro Pascal has quickly come a long way since his fan-favorite turn as Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones in 2014. Most recently, he's become known for playing dads or father-figures to great effect in films like We Can Be Heroes and Wonder Woman 1984, along with his time as Din Djarin on The Mandalorian. What's more, Pascal's experience bringing the grizzled bounty hunter Din to life in a galaxy far, far away has already prepared him for his newly-confirmed role as Joel in HBO's upcoming TV series adaptation of The Last of Us video games.
Much like the original Naughty Dog games, HBO's The Last of Us will pick up twenty years after human civilization has collapsed due to the outbreak of a deadly sickness that turns its hosts into zombie-like creatures referred to as the Infected. In some ways, the show's setting is similar to that of The Mandalorian, which takes place in the Outer Rim of the Star Wars universe five years after Emperor Palpatine's defeat in Return of the Jedi. However, if anything, the galaxy has become a more dangerous and lawless place since then, even as the New Republic tries to restore order to things and hunt down the last remnants of the Galactic Empire.
Much like Din makes a living hunting bounties at the start of The Mandalorian, The Last of Us begins with Joel working as a smuggler in one of the many quarantine zones set up for those who survived the pandemic. The two characters even have similarly tragic backstories; whereas Din was adopted by Mandalorians after being orphaned at a young age, Joel's daughter Sarah was shot and died in his arms while the pair were fleeing the chaos caused by the initial outbreak. For that reason, Din clings to the teaching of the Mandalorian cult group that raised him in the same way Joel still wears the now-broken watch Sarah gave him years after her death.
The plot of The Last of Us is set in motion when Joel agrees to smuggle a teenaged girl named Ellie to the Fireflies, a rebel militia that opposes the oppressive police forces that maintain authority over the quarantine zones. Yet again, this is very similar to the story for The Mandalorian, which kicks off with Din accepting a commission from a secretive client to recover and bring back a mysterious infant being referred to as "The Child." Of course, complications arise when Din and "The Child" bond over the course of their adventure together, with Din eventually choosing to renege on his deal and go on the run with his would-be bounty.
In time, Din discovers "The Child" is a Force-sensitive being hunted by former Imperials seeking to use his blood for their own nefarious purposes. Likewise, over the course of their journey, Joel soon learns Ellie is immune to the global sickness and the Fireflies are hoping to use her to develop a cure. As with Din and "The Child" on The Mandalorian, Joel and Ellie grow closer throughout the course of their travels in The Last of Us, with each of them doing their part to help the other stay alive. Soon, they also come to appreciate just how much emotional baggage the other is carrying, perhaps even more so than Din and his adopted son.
Obvious surface difference between The Mandalorian and The Last of Us aside, there's a lot of overlap between the two, from their often identical plots to the way their traumatized bounty hunter protagonists begin to open up emotionally after coming to care for someone younger while working a job. Admittedly, The Last of Us takes Joel's arc to darker places than The Mandalorian has so far with Din, but that's why it's good Pascal prepared to play Joel by portraying Din first. After all, if the actor can be as compelling as he is on The Mandalorian while covering his face most of the time, one imagines he'll be all the more engaging mask-free on the HBO series.
Written by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, HBO's The Last of Us is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television and stars Bella Ramsey as Ellie and Pedro Pascal as Joel. Director Kantemir Balagov will be helming the series' pilot episode.