If Matthew McConaughey had said yes back then, it might not be Pedro Pascal's face on screen leading Ellie across America's wasteland right now. McConaughey recently confirmed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that during the early development of HBO's The Last of Us, showrunner Craig Mazin did in fact approach him about playing Joel—but he passed on it.
McConaughey didn't beat around the bush with his explanation: "I wasn't really acting at that time, I was more focused on writing, and looking at some leadership-type roles." He described Mazin as "excited" at the time, and said the script was "really good," but "it just wasn't the right time for me." He then brought up a very practical consideration—a successful TV show can end up eating up years of someone's career, "Did I really want to do that?" That question says more about his mindset back then than any PR statement ever could.
Mazin himself addressed this back in 2023, and his version of events was more understated than McConaughey's: "I did talk to Matthew [about playing Joel], but it wasn't really a formal offer, more like 'hey, we could talk about this.' He's a great actor, and I'm sure he would've been great, but it would've been a completely different thing. I love what we ended up making with Pedro Pascal." Put side by side, the two accounts suggest this was less a missed opportunity and more a case where both sides knew from the start it probably wasn't going anywhere.
The role of Joel ultimately went to Pedro Pascal, paired with Bella Ramsey as Ellie. Season 1, which premiered in 2023, retold the story of the original game, while Season 2 shifted into adapting The Last of Us Part 2. The show has been consistently well-received, making it hard for anyone to picture a different face in the role now.
Season 3 is expected to arrive next year, but whether it'll wrap up the story remains unclear. Mazin previously said four seasons "sounds like a good number," then later said after Season 2 wrapped that one more season "won't be enough to finish this narrative." HBO executives, however, seem to be leaning toward making Season 3 the final one. Meanwhile, game creator Neil Druckmann has said he'd "absolutely jump at" the chance to make The Last of Us Part 3 if the story is strong enough, and teased last September that more news would come "when the time is right." So far, though, nothing official has been announced.
