Pedro Pascal found filming The Last of Us “incredibly challenging”

Pedro Pascal rose to stardom playing Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones, and since then he’s continued to go from strength to strength. Between lead roles The Mandalorian and now HBO’s zombie drama The Last of Us, Pascal is one of the most famous faces on television. He’ll return to film season 2 of The Last of Us later this year, which means returning to the most “challenging” set he’s ever worked on.

The first season of The Last of Us reportedly had a budget of between $10 million and $15 million per episode; that makes it more expensive than even the first five seasons of Game of Thrones. The year-long shoot is the longest in Canadian history. All of this meant the actors had to give their all.

“It was incredibly challenging,” Pascal told Insider. “But it was more fun than anything else because of how delicious the scripts are, the characters, the creators, the team, putting it all together, the locations, the cultural environment of being in Canada and having a Canadian crew and all of these elements that fell into line with one another…It didn’t mean that it wasn’t hard work, and that it wasn’t a very specific kind of physical labor for everyone.”

Overall, Pascal said that the production team had a sort of family feel: “That’s kind of what happened. A very large family going through a very contained experience, and it was really wonderful for everybody.”

Ashley Johnson can’t wait to see Ellie and Dina in season 2! 

Bella Ramsay played Joel’s surrogate daughter Ellie on the show, but before that, Ashley Johnson played her in Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us video games. Johnson made an appearance in the show, too, playing Ellie’s mother Anna in the season finale. And looking ahead to season 2, she is very excited to see how Ellie’s relationship with Dina, who becomes Ellie’s partner. We already saw Ellie lose one potential romantic partner in season 1 — Riley, played by Storm Reid. She’ll get another shot in season 2.

“In thinking about Episode 7 with Storm Reid and Bella going to the mall and having that moment of being able to be kids … you get to see them smile and be happy,” Johnson told Deadline. “I’m excited to see those moments in Season 2 with Dina and see Bella’s version [of that romance].”

"Bella was so beautiful in those moments that she would steal while looking at Riley and the moments of overwhelming feelings that she’s having in her body until she just has to look away [from her]. I can’t wait to see how she does that with Dina and how that relationship is going to come to life onscreen."

All nine episodes in The Last of Us season 1 are now streaming on HBO Max. Don’t expect season 2 anytime soon. It’s shaping up to be another long shoot!

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