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We almost had Matthew McConaughey in HBO’s The Last of Us but he had a strong reason to decline

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Matthew McConaughey has confirmed he turned down the role of Joel in HBO's The Last of Us, revealing he declined the part because he had stepped back from acting at the time to focus on writing and leadership roles.

Matthew McConaughey has revealed he was offered the role of Joel in HBO's The Last of Us but declined, saying the timing wasn't right. The actor confirmed in an interview with Josh Horowitz that he "seriously considered" playing the character, but ultimately passed because he had stepped away from acting. "I wasn't really acting at that point," McConaughey explained. "That was part of when I was doing more writing and looking at leadership roles and life and stuff."

McConaughey praised the show, calling it "really good" and saying he was "really excited" about the project, even though he didn't participate. He also noted that the first season of True Detective was a "coup" that helped change perceptions about television acting, as prior to that, prominent actors didn't view TV roles as worthwhile. The role of Joel eventually went to Pedro Pascal, whose performance has been widely praised as a key factor in the show's success.

The casting decision proved pivotal for the series, which has been hailed as one of the best video game adaptations ever made. Pascal brought a different take on the character compared to the games, balancing charisma and grit in a way that resonated with audiences. McConaughey's revelation adds an interesting "what if" to the show's history, though he expressed no regrets about his decision.

Coverage of the story was consistent across outlets, with no conflicting accounts reported. The news spread over 23 hours, with IGN first to publish, followed by GameSpot, GamesRadar+, Kotaku, and Destructoid.

  • Matthew McConaughey was offered the role of Joel in HBO's The Last of Us but turned it down because he had stepped back from acting at the time.
  • He confirmed this in an interview with Josh Horowitz, saying he 'seriously considered' the part but was focused on writing and leadership roles.
  • The role eventually went to Pedro Pascal, whose performance has been widely praised as a highlight of the acclaimed adaptation.
  • McConaughey praised the show as 'really good' and noted that True Detective helped change attitudes about TV acting for film stars.

This synthesis was derived and curated on the fly by TDGN’s newsroom from 5 outlets’ breaking reports, and updates automatically as coverage develops. It may contain errors — the outlets’ original reporting is linked below.

Who reported it, and when

  1. first IGN Matthew McConaughey Explains Why He Turned Down Playing Joel in HBO's The Last of Us Show
  2. +1h GameSpot Matthew McConaughey Discusses Passing On Playing Joel In The Last Of Us Show
  3. +2h GamesRadar+ Matthew McConaughey says he turned down playing Joel in The Last of Us TV show
  4. +19h Kotaku Matthew McConaughey On Why He Turned Down The Role Of Joel From The Last Of Us Show: ‘It Wasn’t For Me At The Time’
  5. +23h Destructoid We almost had Matthew McConaughey in HBO’s The Last of Us but he had a strong reason to decline

This page records how the games press covered one story. The reporting belongs to the outlets listed; every headline links to the original. Counts update as more outlets publish. The article itself follows below.

Steady5 outletsfirst: IGN

We almost had Matthew McConaughey in HBO’s The Last of Us but he had a strong reason to decline

Destructoid · ·

HBO’s The Last of Us stands as one of the best game-to-TV adaptations of all time, and that’s especially true for its first season. It preserved everything from the games and only improved where necessary, sometimes even to its own detriment.

And a big part of what made it good was the acting, with Pedro Pascal handling perhaps the toughest role in the series—Joel. He gave us a different take on the character from the games, one more in tune with his own balance of charisma and grit.

But that almost never happened: Matthew McConaughey was initially offered the role of Joel before the production settled on Pascal, and after some deliberation, he decided to pass on it”

McConaughey confirmed this himself in an interview with Josh Horowitz, saying the show was “really good” even if he did not participate in it.

“I wasn’t really acting at that point,” the actor explained after confirming he had “seriously considered” playing in The Last of Us. “That was part of when I was doing more writing and looking at leadership roles and life and stuff,” he added. “It was really good. I was really excited.”

McConaughey went on to say that the first season of True Detective was a real “coup” and that prior to it, prominent actors didn’t really look at TV shows as something worth their while.

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While thinking the role over, McConaughey said he’d have wanted the series to succeed, but that success by itself meant the show would then be renewed and he’d have to participate in it “for years, and years, and years,” which seems to have played a major part in his passing on doing another TV show.

His persona would have definitely rendered a Joel that’d be completely unrecognizable compared to the one both in the games and what we got from Pascal. McConaughey is very into the philosophical side of things and has been for a very long time now, which is a funny contrast to his beginnings as primarily a romcom actor.

Following True Detective, his characters and real-life mannerisms have all been sort of very postmodern and philosophically layered, and I’m pretty sure his take on Joel would’ve ended up being quite similar to his Rust Cohle and, well, himself. That’d inevitably draw comparisons and unnecessary discussions, so I kind of have to say that I’m happy Joel was passed over to someone else.

Still, it’d have been awesome to hear Joel all right, all right, all righting in the post-apocalypse. Perhaps in some other universe.

The post We almost had Matthew McConaughey in HBO’s The Last of Us but he had a strong reason to decline appeared first on Destructoid.

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