Pedro Pascal gets his first Golden Globe nomination (for The Last of Us)

The nominees for the 81st annual Golden Globe Awards have been announced! Sure, they’re out a little later than expected — a lot of award shows were pushed back thanks to the actors and writers strikes this year — but the Golden Globes are officially on their way.

For this article, let’s zero in the award for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Fully four of the six nominees performed in HBO shows. There are three actors from Succession — Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong — and one from The Last of Us: Pedro Pascal, who played lead character Joel.

This is Pascal’s first Golden Globe nomination. Does he have a chance to win? Take a look at the field below:

Best Performance in a Television Series – Drama

• Brian Cox — Succession
• Kieran Culkin — Succession
• Gary Oldman — Slow Horses
• Pedro Pascal — The Last of Us
• Jeremy Strong — Succession
• Dominic West  — The Crown

At first glance, it seems inevitable that the award will go to someone from the cast of Succession; half the nominees are from that show, after all, so clearly the voters love it. Then again, the category being crowded with Succession actors could work in Pascal’s favor, since they may split the vote.

Then we have Dominic West as Prince Charles in The Crown on Netflix and Gary Oldman as a rude spy in the Apple TV+ drama Slow Horses. Both of these actors have long histories in the business, especially Oldman. Pascal is a bit newer to super-stardom, which could work against him.

Then again, The Last of Us was a huge hit, and could well replace Succession as HBO’s premiere prestige drama. While I don’t think Pascal is a shoo-in for the award, I don’t think he should be counted out either.

The 81st annual Golden Globe Awards will air on CBS on Sunday, Jan 7.

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