‘The Last of Us’ Creator Craig Mazin Considered Matthew McConaughey for Pedro Pascal’s Role

HBO‘s “The Last Of Us” ratcheted up 24 Emmy nominations yesterday, coming second in total noms only to its HBO brethren “Succession.” Not a bad haul for a show’s first season. But despite all of that recognition, EW reports that showrunner Craig Mazin expects that Season 2 of his hit series will continue to “shock people” and polarize audiences.

For 10-year-old actor Keivonn Woodard, life is nothing but net. Literally. As the Emmy nominations were read on Wednesday morning, Woodard was at a basketball summer camp program while his mother, April Jackson, was at home watching her son make television history.

Selome Hailu After a spring spent breaking audiences’ hearts and viewership records for HBO, “The Last of Us” co-creator and showrunner Craig Mazin is having a complicated summer. On one hand, Mazin’s show just earned 24 Emmy nominations — more than any other show this year besides HBO peer “Succession.” Highlights include lead acting nods for Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey; a whopping seven guest acting nods including deaf 10-year-old actor Kevionn Montreal Woodard; and another in the outstanding drama series category. But on the other, Mazin is a proud member of the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike for 72 days against the studios, networks and streamers that make up the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

HBO’s The Last Of Us is gearing up for what could be a very successful awards season. This TV adaptation of Naughty Dog’s former Game Of The Year Award winner has been a huge hit and it’s really showing. TLOU could have a nice clean sweep in a wide range of categories.

HBO had another great Emmy nomination morning with big hauls for series such as Succession, The Last Of Us, The White Lotus and Barry.

Aside from a handful of outliers like The X-Files, a four-time Outstanding Drama Series nominee, the top Emmy drama category had not been very welcoming to genre shows. That changed in a big way with HBO’s fantasy series Game Of Thrones, which became a four-time drama series winner.

The Last Of Us is a beloved franchise, and a Part 3 is inevitable. Both previous titles have been massive hits for Sony and Naughty Dog. Interests in the franchise spiked earlier this year as HBO Max and Neil Druckmann nailed the TV adaptation of TLOU Part 1.

“Succession” and “The Last of Us” are facing Disney+’s “Andor,” AMC’s “Better Call Saul,” AMC’s “Interview with a Vampire,” Paramount+’s “The Good Fight,” HBO’s “The White Lotus” and Showtime’s “Yellowjackets.” As for individual acting achievements between the two leaders, both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay were nominated for “The Last of Us,” and Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook and Jeremy Strong were nominated for “Succession.”As for comedies, nomination leader “The Bear” will be facing off against “Abbott Elementary” in Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. The ABC hit took home the top honor last year.

The Last Of Us, but his potential casting never became “serious”.While the HBO adaptation of the video game was in development, reports claimed True Detective stars Mahershala Ali and McConaughey were both in contention to play the role of Joel in the series, which eventually went to Pedro Pascal.Show co-creator Craig Mazin addressed the rumours on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he confirmed talks with McConaughey had taken place.“I actually never talked to Mahershala,” Mazin said. “I did talk to Matthew [McConaughey]. I can’t say it was serious.

The cast of The Last of Us might have looked very different.

“The Last of Us” bosses originally had someone else in mind to play Joel Miller instead of Pedro Pascal.

HBO has another hit on its hands with “The Last Of Us,” with the series breaking all sorts of viewership records for the network earlier this year. And a lot of the show’s critical success comes from its cast, leading man Pedro Pascal in particular.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Before Pedro Pascal landed the male lead in HBO’s adaptation of the hugely popular “The Last of Us” video game, rumors swirled that co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann were trying to lure former “True Detective” stars Mahershala Ali and Matthew McConaughey back to the network to headline the series. Mazin finally sounded off on the casting rumors during a recent interview on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. “I actually never talked to Mahershala,” Mazin said before confirming that talks with McConaughey did in fact take place. However, it sounds like McConaughey’s casting never made it past early discussions about the project.

 almost looked very different!During an appearance on the  podcast, showrunner Craig Mazin revealed that Matthew McConaughey was originally tapped for the role of Joel before Pedro Pascal signed on to the hit HBO series.«I did talk to Matthew. I can't say that it was a series [of conversations]. It was more of a, 'Hey, here's something to talk about,'» Mazin shared.

Craig Mazin, showrunner of The Last of Us, is opening up about working on the script for Dune: Part Two.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Pedro Pascal is charming, funny and incredibly talented. His resume thus far includes notable films and television series such as HBO’s “The Last of Us” and Lionsgate’s “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.” During his interview, I referenced his 2020 cover story. In that story, he said he couldn’t believe Patty Jenkins cast him in “Wonder Woman 1984” without auditioning. Then something happened that you don’t typically see. When asked what it feels like to be a role model to young Latinos, LGBTQ and Hollywood dreamers everywhere who yearn to sit in the same position he finds himself in, his usual charisma and confidence melted away.

After years and years of writing comedy films with mixed success (for every “Hangover” there’s a “Superhero Movie”), Craig Mazin has found his place as one of the best creators on television, thanks to the success of both “Chernobyl” and “The Last of Us.” And apparently, with his renewed passion for TV, it appears he’s willing to put the film business behind him.

In HBO’s hit series The Last of Us, it’s the end of the world as most of humanity knows it, but Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey feel just fine. Long gone are the traces of the hardened survivor Joel (Pascal) and the teenage spitfire Ellie (Ramsey), who must endure the collapse of modern civilization due to a deadly mutable fungus that turns people into zombie-like creatures. Well, sort of. Comfortably sat within the confines of a secluded lounge at the Directors Guild of America, the pair are swapping inside jokes and bursting with laughter. While Pascal trades in Joel’s stoicism for passion, Ramsey can’t quite shake the penchant for Ellie’s habitual cussing.

The Last of Us started as a video game, became a hit TV series and is about to become not one but two live attractions: Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights will open Last of Us haunted houses at Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood in September.

While the onscreen travails of Joel and Ellie take center stage in The Last of Us, as they did in the videogame, for Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, the translation to television afforded an opportunity to delve deeper into the larger struggle of survivors of the pandemic. The show’s third episode “Long, Long Time” expands the game’s story of survivalist Bill (Nick Offerman), who turns his hometown into an infected-proof compound, and who seems content to survive on his own. That is, until Frank (Murray Bartlett) gets stuck in one of Bill’s traps, and the pair fall delicately, and movingly, in love with one another.