Pedro Pascal has quickly become one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, after leading hit Star Wars series The Mandalorian, and now taking on the role of The Last of Us character Joel in the new The Last of Us TV series. In fact, he’s carving out a niche for himself as the go-to on-screen single dad.
In his role in The Last of Us, Pascal acts as the guardian of Ellie, who is helping to transport across a post-apocalyptic America in the hopes of finding a cure for the Cordyceps infection which has turned people into horrifying, mushroom-sprouting infected. So he’s got a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, and with his baggage from the past it isn’t an easy journey.
So far the HBO horror series has been a major success, and it already stands as one of Pedro Pascal’s best TV series. Despite that though, Pascal actually forgot he’d been cast in the show just hours after he was told he got the job.
Speaking on The Graham Norton Show, Pascal recounted how he had to stay up late one night to speak to the The Last of Us team try to convince them to give him the job. He said he then expected to receive a call the next day to hear the outcome, and so to try and get some sleep he took an Ambien.
Recounting how that ended up being a bad idea, he said, “It was late, and I took an Ambien, a sleeping tablet. So they called me to tell me I’d got the job, but I’d already taken the tablet. I thought I’d at least have to wait until the next day. I was like ‘Oh my god,’ and then a couple of minutes on the call went by apparently and I was like ‘So what’s up? Did I get the job?’ and they were like ‘What’re you talking about? We called you and told you that you got the job,'”
He continued, “I forgot that completely, and then woke up in the morning and was all like ‘Oh my god, did I get the job? I’ll have to wait all day. They’re in L.A., I’m in London. I’m going to be waiting by the phone and everything, and I had already got the job…”
You can check out Pascal’s own telling of the story below:
Thankfully, Pascal managed to keep the job even after the debacle of forgetting he’d been cast. And, we’re glad he did because he’s already brought so much to the series in such a short amount of time.
For more on The Last of Us, check out our guide to FEDRA, and the Fireflies, as well as the rest of The Last of Us cast.