Tommy Voice Actor Confirms Mahershala Ali Almost Played Joel In The Last Of Us
Back in early 2021, The Last of Us was hardly a twinkle in HBO's eye. Naysayers questioned whether the game even needed an adaptation, and the studio couldn't seem to knuckle down on its leads. During this time, it was reported that Mahershala Ali could be playing Joel. And now, we know that this was much more than a rumour.
Jeffrey Pierce, who played Tommy in the games and Perry in the show, has now confirmed that Ali was indeed seriously considered for the lead role. Pierce even brings up Ali's name next to Pedro Pascal, suggesting Ali was closer to playing Joel than we previously thought.
Related: The Last Of Us Doesn't Care About Realism And Neither Should You
This comes from an interview with The Direct, in which Pierce sheds some light on The Last of Us' lengthy production, particularly how he realised he would not be reprising his role as Tommy.
"Initially they had talked to Mahershala Ali about playing Joel, which is an obvious cue that I’m not gonna play Tommy," says Pierce. "When they cast Pedro, I knew like, yeah, that was certainly not going to happen regardless."
According to rumours back in 2021, Ali was in talks for the role after Matthew McConaughey turned it down. Pierce makes no mention of McConaughey being in the running, so it's not clear if he was actually considered, or just turned down the role fairly early on. In any case, it's clear that it took a while for producers to turn to Pedro Pascal.
Yet given the performance he's turned in, it's incredibly difficult to imagine anyone other than Pascal in the role. Even Joel's original actor, Troy Baker, says he was so inspired by Pascal's performance that he wished he could go back and do his own stint as the sad dad all over again. He would have
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