HBO's The Last of Us adaptation was led by standout performances from Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. However, Pascal's role was almost played by a different major, Academy Award-winning star.

The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin recently spoke to Josh Horowitz who revealed that while Pascal was always on their list for the role of Joel, he had discussions with Matthew McConaughey.

“I can't say that it was a serious [conversation], it was more of like a ‘Hey, here's something to talk about,'” Mazin revealed.

He continued by saying that Pascal was initially on their list for Joel, but was “unavailable” initially. “Pedro was on our list from the start — we were told that he's unavailable.”

However, as fate would have it, Pascal's agent reached out to Mazin and said that Pascal “might be” available and despite being in London shooting a film, Pascal read the script overnight and loved it. The rest is history.

The Last of Us was an adaptation of the hit Playstation game of the same name. It followed Joel (Pedro Pascal), a lone wolf of sorts who's tasked with smuggling an immune teenager, Ellie (Bella Ramsey), across the United States. A second season is in development at HBO.

Matthew McConaughey hasn't appeared in a live-action film since Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen — which came out months before the pandemic. He has done a number of voice roles, including reprising the role of Buster Moon in Sing 2 and also voicing the titular character in Agent Elvis. He's also rumored to be a part of a Yellowstone series by Taylor Sheridan. While it would've been interesting to see McConaughey play the role of Joel in The Last of Us, most would likely agree that it turned out “alright, alright, alright.”