It is difficult to imagine anyone other than Pedro Pascal playing Joel Miller in HBO’s The Last of Us, but the role nearly went to another Oscar winning actor.
Matthew McConaughey has confirmed that he seriously considered starring as Joel before ultimately deciding the project was not right for him at that point in his career. The revelation adds new context to a casting story that The Last of Us co-creator Craig Mazin first discussed publicly several years ago.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, McConaughey explained that The Last of Us came his way during a period when he had largely stepped away from acting. While he was impressed by the material, the potential commitment required by a major television series gave him pause.
“It was really good,” McConaughey said of the project, before explaining that
“it wasn’t for me at the time.”
McConaughey’s comments confirm that the possibility of him playing Joel was considerably more real than simple Hollywood casting speculation.
Mazin previously revealed in 2023 that he had spoken with McConaughey about the role while HBO was attempting to find its Joel. Pascal had been among the filmmakers’ preferred choices from the beginning, but they were initially told that he was unavailable. That led Mazin to explore other possibilities, including McConaughey.
The Last of Us [credit: HBO Max]
The situation changed when Pascal’s representatives informed the production that his availability had opened up. Pascal eventually accepted the role and starred opposite Bella Ramsey as Ellie when The Last of Us premiered on HBO in 2023.
McConaughey would have made for a fascinatingly different Joel. The actor has built much of his career around characters with a distinctly Southern presence, including acclaimed performances in Dallas Buyers Club, Mud and HBO’s own True Detective. His version of Joel likely would have brought a noticeably different energy to the hardened Texas survivor.
Mazin acknowledged as much when discussing the alternate casting possibility in 2023, saying he believed McConaughey would have been great in the role but that the resulting series would have been different. Mazin ultimately said he preferred the version they made with Pascal.
Pascal’s performance ultimately became one of the defining elements of HBO’s adaptation, transforming Joel into one of the actor’s most recognizable roles and earning widespread acclaim.
McConaughey, meanwhile, eventually found the project that convinced him to make a major return to acting with The Rivals of Amziah King. His latest comments suggest that turning down The Last of Us wasn’t necessarily about the quality of the series or the character of Joel. It simply arrived at the wrong moment.
Still, it leaves fans with one of Hollywood’s more intriguing recent “what if?” casting scenarios.
In another universe, Ellie might have crossed post-apocalyptic America with Matthew McConaughey instead of Pedro Pascal.
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