Pedro Pascal’s Joel became one of the most beloved performances on television, but he wasn’t always the only actor in the conversation for the role. Matthew McConaughey has confirmed he had his own shot at playing the grizzled smuggler, and turned it down.
The reveal comes courtesy of The Last of Us co-creator Craig Mazin, who explained that Pedro Pascal was always the first choice to play Joel, but a scheduling conflict forced the show to look elsewhere. Mazin said McConaughey’s agent reached out about his client’s availability, and the two sides talked.
That alone would be a fascinating what-if for fans who’ve spent two seasons watching Pascal carry the role. McConaughey, fresh off his Emmy-nominated turn in True Detective, would have made sense on paper. HBO clearly thought so too.
Matthew McConaughey Explains Why He Turned Down Joel
Sitting down with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, McConaughey finally addressed why he walked away from the part.
“Last of Us was really good but it wasn’t for me at the time,” he said.
He elaborated further, explaining where his head was at during that period of his career.
“I wasn’t really acting at that point,” McConaughey said. “That was when I was doing more writing and looking at leadership roles in life. It was really good. I was excited.”
McConaughey also reflected on how rare it was for film actors of his caliber to jump into prestige television at all, pointing to True Detective as the exception rather than the rule.
“We pulled off a real coup with True Detective at a time when series were not something that actors like myself or Woody Harrelson would hop over and go do,” he said. “That one succeeded in a real royal fashion.”
Mazin, for his part, has said he doesn’t view the decision as a loss. He called McConaughey “an amazing actor” and admitted the show would have been great with him in the role, just different from the version fans got with Pascal.
Pascal ultimately turned Joel into a career-defining role, earning a SAG Award, a People’s Choice Award, and multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations along the way. It’s hard to imagine the show without him now, but McConaughey’s version remains one of the more intriguing casting roads not taken in recent HBO history.
The Last of Us Season 3 is expected to premiere on HBO in 2027.
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