Pedro Pascal Is Having Fun With His “Daddy” Roles in The Mandalorian and The Last of Us

Being considered pop culture’s Internet “Daddy” isn’t such a bad thing when you’re Pedro Pascal. The actor is the leading man in the hit streaming series Star Wars: The Mandalorian and The Last of Us, with his roles in each being recognized for his father-figure status to Grogu and Ellie, respectively. Even factoring in Pascal’s performance in We Can Be Heroes, and he just seems to find himself protecting the youth. But how does Pascal actually feel about all of the “Daddy” memes that fans have dedicated to him? He gave his thoughts in a recent profile on The Hollywood Reporter.

Pedro Pascal was joined by Evan Peters, Michael Imperioli, Jeff Bridges, Kieran Culkin, and Damson Idris for the THR actors roundtable, where Pascal was asked about fandom in general and the “Daddy” narrative surrounding him.

“Yeah, I am having fun with it. [The daddy thing] seems a little role-related,” Pedro Pascal told THR. “There was a period where the Mandalorian is very daddy to baby Grogu, and Joel is very daddy to Ellie. These are daddy parts. That’s what it is.” When asked by Jeff Bridges if he was a daddy, Pascal replied, “I’m not a daddy and (looks directly to camera) I’m not going to be a daddy.”

Writers Strike Affects The Mandalorian and The Last of Us

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is currently on strike, affecting the production of several TV shows and movies. The Pedro Pascal-starring The Mandalorian and The Last of Us are only two of those projects, with their newer seasons potentially being on hold while pens are down.

The start of production on The Mandalorian Season 4 has been indefinitely delayed by the writers’ strike, with sources telling Deadline the plan was to have production on The Mandalorian Season 4 begin in September. With the WGA Strike still very much underway, it’s now uncertain if the necessary pre-production duties on the show can get done in time. 

As for The Last of Us, the recent WGA strike appears to have halted the development of its second season. Casting for the second season had been underway when it was officially put on hold. Scripts for Season 2 of The Last of Us aren’t completed, so they’ve been having actors read material from The Last of Us Part II video game instead. Showrunner and writer Craig Mazin and series creator Neil Druckmann are not currently working on the second season in any capacity, including casting, due to the strike. Mazin has been spotted on the picket line with other writers.