Enjoying Pedro Pascal in The Last of Us? He’s fantastic as Joel Miller, a man struggling to survive during the zombie apocalypse, but that’s just one of the many fantastic roles he’s played over the years.
If you’re looking for more Pedro Pascal in your life, we’ve made a list of some of his best roles! Whether you’re looking to watch him in a flashy action movie or see him sink his teeth into a complicated role, there’s a Pedro Pascal for every season, starting with…
6. Pedro Pascal as…Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984
Pedro Pascal doesn’t normally appear in major blockbuster films, but he has a few under his belt. Probably his best-known blockbuster role is as industrialist Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984, the 2020 to the original Wonder Woman film. Set in the ’80s, Pascal gets to don razor-cut power suits, enthuse into the camera, and neglect his emotionally starved son. He’s technically the villain, but Maxwell emerges more as a guy who’s been led astray by the glitz and glamor of the age.
It has to be said that Wonder Woman 1984 isn’t a particularly great movie — it’s meandering and overstuffed — but it’s worth a watch to see how much fun Pascal has playing this sleazy baddie. His character even produced a meme:
If you like Pascal in this mode — fun and flashy but kinda empty and dumb — you may also wanna check out his performance as Agent Whiskey in Kingsman: The Golden Circle.
5. Pedro Pascal as…Javi Gutierrez in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Speaking of Pedro Pascal having fun, what’s more fun than portraying a billionaire playboy who gets to pal around with Nicolas Cage? That’s what happens in 2022’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, a movie that makes it clear that Pascal has broken through. If he’s gettin top billing alongside a Hollywood veteran like Cage, he can go as far as he wants. And knowing how hard he works, he probably will.
The movie also shows off Pascal’s comedic chops. He plays a super-rich arms dealer who is also a Nicolas Cage superfan. He gets to party with his idol when he invites Cage down to his palatial mansion for his birthday. In this version of reality, Nicolas Cage is a washed up version of himself who needs the money, so he takes the gig.
The focus is on the funny, and Pascal delivers. There are also some fun action scenes as Cage is recruited by the authorities to try and bring Javi down, but neither man can bring himself to fight the other. So there’s a bromance angle in there too.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a wacky lark of a movie that will leave you asking ‘What did I just even see?’ And that’s a good thing.
Okay, that’s enough movies. As cool as it is to see Pascal on the big screen, he’s made his biggest mark on TV, where he’s a burning bright superstar:
4. Pedro Pascal as…Javier Peña in Narcos
After Pascal broke out in 2014 as Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones, he was suddenly in demand (and because his character died in the same season as he was introduced, he was free to act on the opportunities coming his way). Soon enough, he had a follow-up show ready: Narcos, a Netflix crime drama and Pascal’s first show where he was billed at the top of the call sheet.
Narcos is based on the real-life story for legendary Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar and the years-long effort by authorities to bring him down. Pedro Pascal plays Javier Peña, an actual DEA agent who helped fight the Medellin cartel in the ’80s. Pascal met with the real Peña for research.
Pascal is a big part of Narcos, but it’s an ensemble drama at heart. Peña is partnered with DEA agent Steve Murphy. Peña takes the “bad cop” role in their partnership, getting down and dirty and going to any lengths necessary to bring down the cartel. He’s not quite as self-destructive as some of TV’s other famous bad cops, but he’s a compelling character Pascal brings to life with grit, charm, and danger.
Narcos ran for three seasons on Netflix, where you can watch it right now. It’s a respectable, entertaining period piece that helped establish Pascal as a viable TV star, although it never quite broke out and became a proper television phenomenon. But Pascal would have plenty of experience with that:
3. Pedro Pascal as…Din Djarin in The Mandalorian
This is the big one. Starting in 2019, Pedro Pascal became the actor at the head of The Mandalorian, the first-ever live-action Star Wars TV series.
This is a huge deal. Obviously, Star Wars is a ginormous brand. But they’d never done a live-action show before. And when they do, the guy they went to was Pedro Pascal. As Mandalorian Din Djarin, he broke new ground and has secured himself a place in TV history.
It helps that the show is quite good. Din Djarin is a taciturn, deadly Mandalorian, a member of an ancient warrior race who goes around the galaxy collecting bounties to support his small conclave of kinsman who survived the massacre of their planet years ago. Along the way, he meets an adorable Force-sensitive scamp who we would learn is named Grogu, but who we will always call Baby Yoda.
Pairing the gruff Din Djarin with the precocious Baby Yoda was a brilliant move. It’s hilarious watching Din suddenly responsible for this tiny creature, but there’s also a lot of pathos as the two forge a real connection.
The story has grown in the telling. There are two seasons of The Mandalorian out now, both of them out on Disney+. The third will find Din Djarin as the ruler of the planet Mandalore, even if he came by the title on accident.
The only bad thing about this role for Pedro Pascal is that his face is covered by Din Djarin’s helmet 95% of the time, so even though he’s on a huge show, some people may not even realize it’s him. That wasn’t a problem with his breakout role:
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.
1. Pedro Pascal as…Joel Miller in The Last of Us
Okay, I know the show is only a few episodes deep, but I think The Last of Us will put Pedro Pascal on the map more than anything he’s done before. He will be able to write his own ticket after this.
HBO’s newest hit is an adaptation of Naughty Dog’s video game of the same name, about the aftermath of a brutal zombie apocalypse. A hardened survivor named Joel (Pascal) finds himself having to escort a teenager named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a ruined United States. In the process, they’ll form a bond that begs the question: do they just want to survive or do they want to live, even though it means putting themselves at risk?
The Last of Us is already off to a rollicking great start, and Pascal’s Joel is at its center. He is, essentially, the main character of the show, and this time Pascal doesn’t have to wear a helmet the whole time.
There’s still a lot of story to go, but if the first few episodes are any indication, The Last of Us will be one for the history books. Pascal will get to act out a whole arc, as Joel slowly tears down the emotional walls he’s built over the years and learns to be vulnerable again, even though it could result in catastrophe.
The show is already raising Pascal’s profile; he’s hosting Saturday Night Live this very night! Who knows how many great roles he’ll notch before his career is over?
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