Mere hours after the announcement of Bella Ramsey in the female lead role of Ellie, it has been announced that “The Mandalorian” and “Game of Thrones” actor Pedro Pascal is set to play the male lead role of Joel in HBO’s TV series adaptation of the award-winning PlayStation video game “The Last of Us”.
The story is set two decades after modern civilization has been destroyed and centers on the relationship between Joel (Pascal), a hardened survivor and smuggler in this new world, and Ellie (Ramsey), a teenager who may be key to a cure for a deadly pandemic.
What starts as a small job to take the girl out of an oppressive quarantine zone becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey as they traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
Pascal is expected to continue on “The Mandalorian” where he is used sparingly because of the nature of his character who remains masked most of the time.
“Chernobyl” creator Craig Mazin is writing and executive producing with the game’s original writer and creative director Neil Druckmann. Russian filmmaker Kantemir Balagov (“Beanpole”) has been tapped to direct the pilot.
Source: Deadline
