Matthew McConaughey explains why he turned down the role of Joel in The Last of Us
Matthew McConaughey has explained why he ultimately passed on playing Joel in HBO's The Last of Us – a role that, of course, went to Pedro Pascal instead.
Matthew McConaughey has explained why he ultimately passed on playing Joel in HBO's The Last of Us – a role that, of course, went to Pedro Pascal instead.
The short version
- Back in 2023, showrunner Craig Mazin confirmed he'd spoken with McConaughey during casting, though he was always clear it never got particularly "serious".
- "It was more of just like, 'Hey, here's something we can talk about'...
- I'm sure there's an alternate universe where it's a different guy.
What happened
Matthew McConaughey is an amazing actor – I'm sure it would've been great, but it would've been different, and I like the one that we made," he said at the time. Now, speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, McConaughey said the timing simply wasn't right.
Why it matters
He wasn't doing much acting in the early 2020s, having stepped back to focus on writing and other pursuits, and said he's generally wary of signing on to television projects at all outside of a rare exception like the first season of True Detective.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Eurogamer via the links above and below.