Pedro Pascal is the grumpiest person on television right now.
In The Last of Us, the actor grumbles and grunts his way through the zombie apocalypse as no-nonsense resistor Joel. Forced to tote around (inexplicably immune) Ellie (Bella Ramsey), mourning his daughter (Nico Parker), and facing down deadly beasts on the daily, Joel has every right to be a sad, quiet dude.
The case is the same for The Mandalorian, which is set to return for a new season on Disney+ March 1. In the beloved Star Wars series, Pascal plays the titular stoic warrior, shielded by a face mask that hides his identity and, in turn, his emotions. But when Mando stumbles upon cute little Grogu—aka “The Child,” or, as Pascal still calls him, “Baby Yoda”—he must care for the tiny creature. It’s as if he were a father begrudgingly accepting a new pet dog into his family home.
Somehow, despite playing a bit of a grouch on both TV shows, Pascal himself has emerged as the exact opposite in real-life press tours for them. It’s as if Pascal’s TV acting persona is the Wario version of his actual happy-go-lucky Mario self. When the crew yells “CUT,” how is Pascal able to bounce back to giddy goofball land so easily?
Last week, for example, Pascal appeared on The Graham Norton Show to chat about The Last of Us. For those who aren’t familiar: “It’s a very famous video game, I’ve heard,” the actor explained. Thanks for clearing the air.
As he stars in this HBO adaptation of a very famous video game, Pascal has sat through excessive interviews on TV shows, hosted SNL, and endured plenty of fans in order to promote the show. But on The Graham Norton Show, Pascal clearly is having the time of his life right now—he’s got enough energy to charm us all.
The actor began by telling the audience, including Dame Helen Mirren, the story of when he scored the part of Joel.
“I was in London—this is horrible,” Pascal said, burying his head in his hands before continuing. “They wanted me to stay up late to meet the creator of the video game and the executive producer Carolyn Strauss, who was on Game of Thrones, to continue convincing them to hire me for the job. By the time it was all said and done, it was late, and I took an Ambien—a sleeping tablet to go to bed.”
Then, Pascal dropped the kicker: “Then, they called me to tell me that I got the job, but I had already taken the tablet. I thought I would have to at least wait until the next day.”
Mirren cracked up, doing an impression of Pascal accepting the role on The Last of Us while on sleeping pills. “Ooooh, okay,” she said sleepily through giggles. “That’s coooool.”
“A couple of minutes on the call went by, apparently, and I was like, ‘What’s up? Did I get the job?’” Pascal continued. “They were like, ‘What are you talking about? We called you and told you that you got the job.’”
When Pascal woke up the next morning, he didn’t remember if he got the job. There were two instances where Pascal could’ve been replaced on The Last of Us for his, uh, inconsistency—but how could you replace a ball of fun like him? It’s bold for Pascal to admit to his poor performance on a job interview, but he does it so delightfully.
There have been a flurry of other jubilant moments on Pascal’s press tour. Later on The Graham Norton Show, Pascal blushed when Norton forced him to deny a smooch from Mirren. He attempted to refuse—he wanted to kiss the actress—but they were showing off what it meant to “swerve” advances from potential romantic partners. If only they had shared that kiss—what a whirlwind romance the world would have witnessed!
And then on a completely different side of the world, on TikTok, there’s a new viral meme format inspired by Pascal’s performance in in 2021’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. A stern Nicolas Cage in the driver’s seat glances over at giddy Pascal, grinning like a puppy in the passenger seat. Folks use Pascal’s grinning face as an excuse for their nasty habits: “Me expecting my boyfriend to forgive me after picking another fight,” some write.
There’s also the triptych of Pascal looking terribly sad and pained in The Last of Us, which has been making the rounds on Twitter as another meme. Twitter users employ the image as a way to dramatize their life; “Me after I face one minor inconvenience,” for example.
Who knows what will come out of Season 3 of The Mandalorian—a show where we almost never even get to see his face?
Somewhere inside Pascal’s brilliant brain, there might be a switch he can flip that turns him from sad and lonely Pascal into his true bubbly self. Or, more likely, he’s just a damn good actor. Watching Pascal’s press tour juxtaposed against his performance on The Last of Us has been a thrilling ride and a detailed master class in acting.
