The Last of Us: This Marvel actor was originally slated to play Joel on the HBO series

• In the video game adaptation “The Last of Us”, Pedro Pascal as Joel travels through a post-apocalyptic America together with Bella Ramsey.
• But as actor Jeffrey Pierce reveals, a completely different actor was actually intended for the role.
• Because of this, he would not have been able to slip into the role of his video game character for the series.

“The Last of Us” thrives on its characters. Whether it’s in the video games or the series, the story takes us through a lot of emotions with Joel and Ellie. The main actors of the HBO series Pedro Pascal (“The Mandalorian”) and Bella Ramsey (“Game of Thrones”) capture these feelings and pass them on to the audience. The chemistry between the actors seems to be right. But actually Ellie was supposed to travel through the apocalyptic USA with a completely different man in the series.

In an interview with The Direct magazine, actor Jeffrey Pierce (“Bosch”) reveals that Blade actor Mahershala Ali (“Spider-Man: A New Universe”) was originally intended to play Joel. This would have given the series a whole new face. That would have made Pierce’s appearance in his video game role impossible.

Pierce voiced Joel’s brother Tommy in Naughty Dog’s games. Before Joel was cast, it was therefore assumed that he would also take on this role in the series. Of course, having a black and younger actor like Ali made that impossible. Pedro Pascal’s cast also meant Jeffrey Pierce couldn’t play Tommy.

They initially talked to Mahershala Ali about playing Joel. Of course, that was an obvious sign that I shouldn’t be playing Tommy. When they cast Pedro, I knew there was no way that was going to happen. I’m older than Pedro Pascal. So I had no illusions about that.

Instead of playing Tommy, Pierce played Rebel Lieutenant Perry in The Last of Us. The Right Hand of Kathleen Coghlan.

It’s unclear how much the series would have changed if Mahershala Ali starred. His performance would probably have caused a lot of controversy, because even Pedro Pascal’s casting of Joel caused numerous discussions before the broadcast. Regardless of the cast, “The Last of Us” is a huge success for HBO.

In Germany, “The Last of Us” runs on the streaming service Wow.