The Last of Us boss confirms Matthew McConaughey was in talks to play Joel

Before The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal was announced to play Joel Miller in HBO's acclaimed adaptation of The Last of Us, there were a number of actors reportedly up for the role. One name that surfaced at the time was Matthew McConaughey.

Craig Mazin, who showruns The Last of Us with video game creator Neil Druckmann, confirmed he had talks with McConaughey to take on the lead part. These talks, however, weren't as extensive as one might think.

"I did talk to Matthew. I can't say that it was a series [of conversations]. It was more of a, 'Hey, here's something to talk about,'" Mazin said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "Pedro was on our list from the start. We were told he was unavailable, and then as we were floundering about a little bit, I got a call from his agent who said, 'You know, he actually might be available.'"

Another actor rumored to be in contention was Oscar winner Mahershala Ali. Jeffrey Pierce, who voiced the role of Joel's brother Tommy in The Last of Us games and played the character Perry on the TV series, posited as much in an interview with The Direct. Mazin tossed dirt on that fire by saying he did not have talks with Ali.

Pascal has since gone on to earn widespread acclaim for his performance as Joel, a world-weary survivor living in a militarized Boston quarantine zone, years after a fungal pandemic decimated the human population. He's tasked with smuggling a mysterious young girl, Ellie (Bella Ramsey), beyond the QZ by a resistance group known as the Fireflies. But he soon realizes Ellie is somehow immune to the plague that has transformed the infected into zombie-like creatures. The pair are thrust on a cross-country odyssey through what's left of America, dodging human raiders, scavengers, and the vicious Infected.

Both Pascal and Ramsey had bonded through their shared experience on Game of Thrones; though they never crossed paths on screen, Pascal played Dornish prince Oberyn Martell and Ramsey played the young but ferocious leader of Bear Island, Lady Lyanna Mormont.

"I feel like it made us come from a family without knowing each other already," Pascal previously told EW. "To have two characters that the fans liked make their entrance and make their exit is parallel for the both of us and a kind of bonding thing before we even got a chance to bond. So, yes, I am grateful for that."

The Last of Us will return for season 2 to adapt the events of the second video game, though production is currently stalled due to the Hollywood writers' strike.

Watch Mazin's full interview on Happy Sad Confused below.

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