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Pedro Pascal says he forgot he landed 'The Last of Us' lead role after taking Ambien and falling asleep

Pedro Pascal on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" and as Joel in "The Last of Us."
Pedro Pascal on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" and as Joel in "The Last of Us."Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images/HBO
  • "The Last of Us" star Pedro Pascal said he forgot he won the lead role because he fell asleep.

  • The star was working in London when he got the call about the role late at night.

  • Pascal took a sleeping pill before going to bed and completely forgot the call in the morning.

HBO's live-action "The Last of Us" series has taken the world by storm thanks to its emotional story of survival in a fungi-induced apocalypse. Episode three in particular has been praised by audiences for its tender story between Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett).

But the focus is obviously on Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they journey across the United States while dodging the infected, other survivors, and raiders.

Surprisingly, Pedro Pascal actually forgot that he had landed the role of Joel when he was initially cast after taking Ambien and falling asleep.

On Thursday's "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," the 47-year-old actor explained that he was working in London when he had a video call with showrunner Craig Mazin and video game creator, Neil Druckmann.

Pascal said: "And they were like, 'Will you stay up a little bit?' At this point, it was getting kind of late in London. 'To talk to Neil Druckmann, the creator of the video game.' Genius."

The call resulted in Pascal being cast as Joel, and he was so excited that he had to take a sleeping pill because it had gotten so late.

Pascal explained: "I stay up for that Zoom. We all fall in love again. And then, at that point, it's really late. I've got to get up in the morning. I take an Ambien to go to sleep just in case — they've got my adrenaline kind of going and my hopes up. But I get a call, and I get told that I got the job after I took the Ambien..."

The star added that he was "excited, I guess, but I didn't remember."

 

Pascal said that when he woke up the next day, he'd completely forgotten that he'd won the role, and he was worried about spending the whole day thinking about whether he'd got it or not.

"I woke up in the morning and the first thing that occurred to me, was like, 'Oh, man, I really want that job. And I'm in London. They're in LA. I'm going to wait by the phone all day long. This hasn't happened in a while, you know. I'm going to be longing. And I'm going to think about it all day long.'"

Thankfully, it wasn't long before he looked at his phone and realized the good news.

He said: "Yeah, and it's like, 'Oh, congratulations. So happy for you,' when I looked at my phone. I was like, 'Oh yeah, I got the job.'"

"The Last of Us" airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.

Read the original article on Insider