Famously, we seldom see Pascal under the helmet in Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian, in which he plays Din Djarin, who comes from the same bounty hunter race as fan favorite Boba Fett. And yet the actor elevates the series with his swagger and gravitas—perfect traits for a lone gunslinger who gives “Clint Eastwood in space.” That he has so much screen chemistry with Grogu, a.k.a. Baby Yoda, a.k.a. a CGI augmented puppet, is a testament to Pascal’s brilliance.
2. Game of Thrones
Straw poll the vast majority of even the most dedicated Pedro Pascal obsessives, and chances are they’ll tell you that Game of Thrones is where they first encountered him. For seven episodes of the fourth season, he plays Oberyn Martell, a philandering hedonist who also happens to be really good with spears, the tips of which he laces with poison (hence his nickname, “The Red Viper”). As Martell, Pascal has charisma coming out of his pores; some of the best scenes in that season of Thrones are those in which he steals the frame, be it with his acrobatic physicality or his abundant charm. Then there’s that [redacted] fight scene. What a way to bow out.
1. The Last of Us
Whatever skepticism existed within online The Last of Us fan circles around the casting of Pascal as—the hero of the immensely popular Naughty Dog video game that the HBO series is adapted from—disappeared effectively overnight after the series debuted to rave reviews. His Joel is variously brutal, ruthless, broken and, eventually, compassionate—his hard heart softened by the arrival of Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who he comes to take on as his surrogate daughter in The Last of Us‘ post-apocalyptic world. His part in the series solidified two things: not only is Pascal’s Joel one of the greatest anti-heroes to hit the small screen, he remains an unparalleled TV dad.
This story originally appeared in British GQ.
