Pedro Pascal became a household name after The Mandalorian, Wonder Woman 1984 and Game of Thrones catapulted him into the limelight. But there was a point before all that when Pascal was up for a role on The Vampire Diaries. It didn’t happen, but it could have changed the trajectory of his whole career.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, The Vampire Diaries showrunner Julie Plec said that Pascal was a frontrunner for a role on The CW’s hit vampire series, but for Charles Michael Davis’ standout audition. “One of the other people who read opposite Charles for was Pedro Pascal, who I loved,” Plec said. “I was obsessed with him, but he was just on the older side.”
Pedro Pascal was almost Marcel on The Vampire Diaries
Davis was 28 years old when he read for the role in 2013, and Pascal is 10 years his senior. Although vampires are immortal, the showrunners wanted someone younger and Davis was the unanimous decision for the role. “Charles, he just had that swagger and you needed somebody with that kind of swagger to operate and breathe in the same place as Klaus (Joseph Morgan),” Plec said.
Davis appeared not only on The Vampire Diaries but also on all five seasons of spinoff The Originals. Had the role gone to Pascal, it could have prevented him from starring as Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones, a role he landed the same year he auditioned for The Vampire Diaries.
Looking back, Pascal could have made a huge impact on The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, but he ended up playing one of the most memorable and beloved characters on Game of Thrones and then went on to play bigger and even more memorable roles. In the end, it looks like everything turned out exactly right.
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h/t Digital Spy