The Last of Us: Pedro Pascal Says He Was “Worried” About Imitating the Game Too Much

While HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation is still in the works, relatively little is known about it beyond the cast. At this point, there is still only one official photo showing Ellie (played by Bella Ramsey) and Joel (played by Pedro Pascal) from behind. That said, Pascal himself hasn’t been completely quiet about the upcoming adaptation, and in a new interview, he specifically noted that he watched his nephew play through a solid chunk of The Last of Us — and it actually made him a bit worried about his own performance.

“I found Joel [in the game] so impressive – I found the whole of it such a visually impressive experience,” Pascal told GQ in a wide-ranging interview ostensibly about the new movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. “And then I got worried that I would want to imitate too much, which I think could be right in some circumstances, and then a mistake in others. So I just wanted to create a healthy distance, and for that to be more in the hands of [show co-writer] Craig Mazin and [game writer and show co-writer] Neil Druckmann.”

As of right now, it remains unclear exactly when HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation might release. The announced cast for the series includes Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Storm Reid as Riley, Nick Offerman as Bill, and more. The show is developed and written by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, who will executive produce as well. Carolyn Strauss and Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells will also executive produce, and The Last of Us show is a co-production between Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions. Both The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II are available for PlayStation 4. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the upcoming HBO adaptation right here.

What do you think of what we’ve heard about the upcoming HBO series? Are you looking forward to seeing Pascal as Joel in the adaptation? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop in order to talk about all things gaming!