Pedro Pascal didn't finish The Last of Us before filming HBO's adaptation

The Last of Us TV series from HBO won’t premier anytime soon, which gives Pedro Pascal plenty of time to finish the game it’s based on. 

During an interview with GQ, Pascal spoke plainly about his lack of hands-on experience with Naughty Dog’s seminal third-person shooter. He certainly gave it a shot but quickly found the game too challenging.

“It’s so sad, I haven’t any skill. I tried, you know. And then it was only a matter of minutes before I had to hand it over to my nephew,” Pascal said. “It really takes a specific kind of skill, and I don’t have it.”

While gameplay mechanics are not Pascal’s forte, he was quite taken with the character of Joel, who he’ll play in HBO’s series. However, Pascal didn’t want to see too much, as he wanted to avoid mimicking Troy Baker’s performance from the games.

“I found Joel so impressive — I found the whole of it such a visually impressive experience,” Pascal explains. “And then I got worried that I would want to imitate too much, which I think could be right in some circumstances, and then a mistake in others.”

We’ve seen many mediocre video game adaptations that deviate from the source material, though Pascal claims that the team behind the show will do The Last of Us justice.

“There’s a very, very creative way of honoring what’s important and also preserving what is iconic to the experience of the video game, and also things that you wouldn’t necessarily expect, Pascal said. “And then directions that you would expect it to go, and it might not… they’re doing some really smart things, is all I can say.”

“It’s similar to the way Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni treat The Mandalorian, in how are treating The Last of Us — it’s in good hands because they love it so much,” Pascal continues. “Well, clearly Neil created the video game, but Craig loves it so much. So it really is made for the people that love it. And there’s some very intense storytelling for people who might be less familiar.”

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.