The most curious aspect of Pedro Pascal boarding HBO’s The Last of Us as Joel wasn’t the fact that he signed on to the project, because he’s about as solid a choice for the role as you could hope to find, but the details of his contract and what it means for The Mandalorian.
The actor inked a first position deal with HBO, and in industry terms that means The Last of Us instantly became his number one priority and took precedence over any of his other film and television commitments, including Disney Plus’ Star Wars smash hit, so if they don’t want him to show up on set in Din Djarin’s armor, then they’ve got the contractual right to stop it from happening.
A less well known example was the situation between Chris Pratt, Parks and Recreation and Marvel Studios. Scheduling for Guardians of the Galaxy overlapped with Parks and Rec‘s sixth season, and showrunner Mike Schur could have technically blocked Pratt from playing Star-Lord, but a compromise was reached, which is why Andy Dwyer is in London for the season 6 premiere before disappearing for a few episodes, because that’s where James Gunn’s Guardians was shooting.
However, insider Daniel Richtman is now reporting that Pascal has signed a new deal for multiple projects related to The Mandalorian that will see him show up all over the small screen Star Wars universe. Taking to his Patreon account, the tipster wrote: “Pedro signed [a] huge deal to be in multiple projects as Mando.”
If the 45 year-old has in fact agreed to a new contract with Lucasfilm, though, then it’s not going to bear any fruit for a while yet. After all, The Last of Us starts shooting in Calgary this July, and isn’t set to wrap until eleven months later. And given HBO’s first position status and the distance between the console adaptation’s location and The Mandalorian‘s California home, Pascal would need to hit the recording booth with a vengeance between now and then to lend his vocal talents to future Star Wars adventures.