Even when he’s showing off the brawny side of himself, Pedro Pascal evokes an emotional vulnerability that gives his characters a more complete portrayal.
When Pascal gets to go full-throttle into the action side of his persona, we get the best of both worlds — might and a mighty heart. It’s no wonder that he is being tapped for juicier roles over the years, and since the best of Pascal usually comes from his action roles, we get to see him try and save the world – even if he’s hesitant and resists it at first.
We’re going to leave off some pretty solid action(ish) shows from earlier in Pascal’s career — such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, NYPD Blue, Homeland, Law & Order (he was on four different L&O series!), as well as CSI — and use this list for the meatier stuff.
Here they are, the very best Pedro Pascal action movies and TV shows.
10. The Great Wall (2016)
Let’s start off the list by saying this was an action movie starring Matt Damon with Pascal playing a prominent role. Was it great? No. Was it good? Debatable. Was Pascal great in this action movie, though? But, of course.
In this bizarro action/adventure film, Pascal plays one of two mercenary warriors (alongside Matt Damon) who battle a monster en route to the Great Wall. When they arrive, they’re imprisoned by imperial Chinese forces, and must join forces to battle these monsters which turn out to be aliens. Not exactly what you expect from the title of the movie.
9. Prospect (2018)
Not entirely all-the-way action, but featuring plenty of action and battling, so we’ll give it a nod for this list. It’s also the precursor to the wonderful Pascal-plus-young sidekick that we now get to relish in. It’s worth stating that Pascal and Jay Duplass bring the goods in this out-of-this-world sci-fi indie flick. Pascal’s character, Ezra, is on a foreign moon that is mined for its gems, when he encounters (along with his partner) another duo — a father and his younger daughter. After some misfortune and miscommunication, two of the four die and Ezra is left with the girl, Cee (Sophie Thatcher), as they wander the planet in an attempt to escape.
8. Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
The movie picks up with the Kingsmen again, who team up with their cleverly named American counterparts, the Statesmen, in order to bring down the drug cartel known as The Golden Circle. Long story short, a drug linchpin dosed her supply with a deadly toxin in order to get her cartel immunity, and the heroes need to save the day, with Pascal’s character toeing the line between what he really wants and what he stands for.
Worth the watch for Pascal’s part in this series of Kingsman movies that seems to keep going (and not improving). The movie itself lacked the pizzazz and wonder of the original, and we’d like to think a bit more Pascal could have solved that. Alas, Pascal — who plays Jack Daniels, aka Agent Whiskey — meets (meats?) his end by being thrown into a meat grinder.
7. Bloodsucking Bastards (2015)
Come on, now that you know the name of this movie and that Pascal plays a primary role, aren’t you gonna go find it and watch it? It’s every bit of hokey B-movie vampire action (comedy-horror, to be precise) that you would hope for. Maniacally driven by selfishness and lust, Pascal’s character, Max, gives us all the facial mannerisms and gleaming eyes that could kill you in so many ways that we’ve come to know and love from Pascal.
The funny thing about the movie is that it takes place in an office building, where inner-office politics end up taking a backseat to employees steadily getting turned into vampires with Max behind the whole thing.
6. The Equalizer 2 (2018)
The original might still be the better of the two films, but it’s hard to match the sheer villainy Pascal is able to portray as the nemesis to Denzel Washington’s Robert McCall. Pascal shows another side of his range as Dave York, McCall’s former partner, who is called in to an investigation, and York ends up being the bad guy that McCall has to track down and battle – on a seaside watch tower, during a hurricane, no less. And that alone makes this sequel almost as strong as the original.
It also seems like Pascal was able to thrive in his role as the villain in Wonder Woman 1984 in part because of what he was able to pull off here. Speaking of…
5. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Pascal absolutely saves this movie. Not nearly as riveting or engaging as the original, there is way too much downtime/unnecessary exposition here that could have been cut in favor of more Pascal. Though we don’t get his character, Maxwell Lord (what a name), in full action mode in the film, the fact remains it’s an action/superhero movie with plenty of fight scenes. Lord steals a dreamstone and makes a wish to actually become the stone, so that as others make wishes on it, he gets to take what he wants from the wisher. Kind of the opposite of “I wish for a million wishes” and a maniacal power play at the same time. Absolutely riveting Pascal here, even if we don’t necessarily get the big action-packed showdown between Maxwell and Wonder Woman – she defeats him with her Lasso of Truth and even gets him to turn back into a caring, normal human instead of having to slay him.
4. Triple Frontier (2019)
The movie itself does not live up to the actors across the billing — Pascal, Oscar Isaac, Ben Affleck, among others — but still a great Pascal action movie. If there would have been room for him to show more levels of empathy during the movie, it might have been even better.
The plot goes down like this: members of a gang are combating drug cartels in Colombia when they’re asked to help smuggle a woman and her brother out in exchange for intel on a cartel leader and a whole lot of cash. The gang goes and finds even more money then expected, and while trying for their getaway, the money is so heavy it takes down their helicopter for a crash landing on — where else — a cocaine farm! Some fighting, killing, rampaging, and attempts to get away all ensue.
3. The Last of Us (2023-)
Is it too early to put this near the top? In the fleeting moments we’ve witnessed between Joel and his on-screen daughter Sarah, the level of emotion and genuine humanity that Pascal portrays is poignant, and the tension is palpable while we cross our fingers that he’ll be able to keep his companion, Ellie, safe.
The gist of The Last of Us — for those who haven’t watched or played the game yet — is that a fungus begins to infect humans at a rapid pace, leading to the end of the world as we know it. Joel becomes a smuggler and eventually gets paired up with Ellie — who has survived a fungal zombie bite and not been infected — in an effort to deliver her to people who might be able to use her to concoct a cure of some kind against the infection. There’s a whole lot more going on here, but since the first season is still rolling along, best we don’t spoil anything else.
2. Narcos (2015-17)
Queue up “Tuyo” by Rodrigo Amarante and watch the flood of memories and emotions return from the riveting run Narcos had before moving on from the Pablo Escobar storylines. Pascal digs into another part of himself here as we see him juggle the emotions of trying and failing to catch a killer and criminal while battling loneliness and unleashing pure hell when his anger overcomes him. For sure, we’re calling this an action series with the amount of fighting and violence imbued in the show, and Pascal’s role in it all.
Pascal’s character, Javier Peña —along with fellow DEA agent Boyd Holbrook (Steve Murphy) — are among a throng of agents both from Colombian and American forces trying to locate, hunt down, and ultimately take down Escobar, perhaps the most notorious drug kingpin in modern history.
1. The Mandalorian (2019-present)
Sure, we know it’s not always Pascal behind the Mando mask, but in defending “The Way” and little Grogu, The Mandalorian packs more of an action punch than any other Pascal character-driven show or movie. And the wait for his reveal is well worth it when we finally get to see his face. Pascal’s mannerisms set the tone for the character and the world around him, allowing us to believe that the connection between him and Grogu is real, even when they can’t really talk to each other, and when they do speak, they barely utter a full sentence. Mando kicking ass is top-level Pascal action.
Pascal’s character, Din Djarin — aka Mando — is a bounty hunter who encounters the one formerly known as Baby Yoda (Grogu) at the beginning of season one. A fondness grows between the two and a sprawling adventure plays out to save Grogu’s life, as well as take down what remains (and is budding again) of the Galactic Empire.