If you’ve only ever watched HBO’s live-action version of The Last of Us, odds are Pedro Pascal is embedded in your mind as Joel, the hardened survivor turned warm surrogate father who also did war crimes and lied about them to Ellie when pressed. But the Fantastic Four actor wasn’t the only one in consideration for the role. Back in 2023, showrunner Craig Mazin said that he had conversations with Interstellar actor Matthew McConaughey about playing one of video games’ most iconic sad dads, but obviously the role went to Pascal in the end. Now, three years later, McConaughey is talking about why he didn’t pursue the role, and it sounds like a large part of it was because he wasn’t looking to commit to a recurring gig in a television series.
In an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, McConaughey talked about his thought process, and he notes that part of the reason he didn’t take on the role was because he wasn’t doing a lot of acting at the time when the show was starting up in the early 2020s, but he also says that he generally doesn’t sign on to do television projects to begin with outside of things like True Detective’s first season.
“I wasn’t really acting at that point,” he recalls. “I think that was part of when I was doing more writing and looking at leadership roles and in life and stuff. It was really good. I was really excited. Correct me if I’m wrong. I’m not a huge TV watcher, but […] we pulled off a real coup with True Detective at a time when series were not something that actors like myself or Woody Harrelson would hop over and go do. And that one succeeded in a real royal fashion. Last of Us was really good, it wasn’t for me at the time. I don’t know what would have been for me at the time. I guess that the first thing that [I] came across was Rivals [of Amziah King] that I went like, ‘Oh this is extremely particular.’ It’s a movie. It’s one movie, and a series you do have to consider, you want this to succeed. Well in success, this is something you’ll be doing for years and years and years. Do I want for that to be the case in success?”
Well, if McConaughey had taken on the role, he would have found that he’d have a lot more time on his hands by season two, as Pascal and many new fans found out pretty quickly. But I suppose when you’re an actor with as much cache as McConaughey has, you can be choosy about whether or not you want to be tied to a project for that long.
The Last of Us’ third season is in production now, and will primarily follow Kaitlyn Dever as Abby.
