Pedro Pascal’s 6 best roles in movies and TV, ranked

2. Pedro Pascal as…Oberyn Martel in Game of Thrones

Pedro Pascal swept onto Game of Thrones during its fourth season, after it had already become a hugely popular show for HBO. The cast was already nigh-legendary by this point, with Peter Dinklage winning Emmys, Charles Dance glowering at the camera and promising young actors like Emilia Clarke and Maisie Williams on the come up. And Pascal stole the show.

Pascal played Oberyn Martell, a suave, dangerous nobleman from Dorne, the southermost kingdom of Westeros. Oberyn was sly, charming, sensual and wickedly funny. He also seemed to have his heart in the right place and wanted the right people dead, which on Game of Thrones was about as close to “good guy” as you could hope to get. And he was openly bisexual to boot, bringing some welcome sexual diversity into the show.

Fans loved Oberyn immediately, so of course he dies brutally at the end of the season in one of the show’s most famous death scenes. He left as quickly as he arrived, but that only helped his legend grew. Oberyn is remembered and celebrated by fans to this day; we never got a chance to get sick of him.

It may be controversial to put this role ahead of Din Djarin on The Mandalorian, where Pascal is at the center of the show. But without Oberyn and Game of Thrones, The Mandalorian doesn’t happen. Before Game of Thrones, Pascal was a working actor. After, he was a star that is only continuing to rise.