Jensen Ackles “pushed hard” to play Pedro Pascal’s role in The Last of Us

The Last of Us, a new HBO series adapted from Naughty Dog’s video game series of the same name, is one of the most exciting series on the immediate horizon. It’s about a guy named Joel, a hardened survivor of a zombie apocalypse, who must escort a teenage girl named Ellie across a zombie-ridden United States in the hopes of getting her to a lab where scientists can use her seeming immunity to the virus to develop a cure.

The story is simple, but the characters are rich, and with a lot of top-level talent involved, hopes are high for the show. That talent includes Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann behind the camera, and Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in front of it as Joel and Ellie.

The games have a great reputation, and the parts of Joel and Ellie were hotly sought after during casting. At a recent Supernatural convention, Supernatural and The Boys star Jensen Ackles confessed to “pushing” to land the role of Joel, but it was not to be:

"I was really kind of pushing hard, but I don’t think I was really in the mix or really had a shot at it, but– for Pedro Pascal’s role in The Last of Us. I really, I was like– that was high up on my radar."

The Last of Us will “rip your heart into a million tiny uncollectible pieces”

You can’t win ’em all. Ackles also said that he’s shooting something for a new video game as the lead, so he’s still vaguely in that space.

As for The Last of Us, it premieres on HBO on January 15. I hope the show is as good as the pedigree suggests. We’ll be watching.

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h/t ScreenRant