Mahershala Ali nearly played Joel in The Last Of Us, actor confirms

The day we’ve all been dreading is almost upon us. HBO’s The Last of Us will draw to a close in just under two weeks time. It feels like mere days ago that we were all excitedly freaking out over the incredible premiere. They do say time flies when you’re having fun.

Personally, I adored the latest episode ‘Left Behind,’ but it is currently the lowest-rated to date. I’d take that rating with a pinch of salt though as the episode has been subject to hateful review-bombing directed at the relationship between Ellie and Riley. In fact, in some countries, the duo’s kiss was censored out of the episode. In the days since, both Bella Ramsey and Storm Reid have fired back at homophobic trolls with the perfect responses. There was very little Joel in this episode but I do have a fun fact for you today. The role was almost played by another actor.

Take a look at the promo for The Last of Us’ eighth episode, ‘When We Are In Need,’ below.

Joel was almost played by Mahershala Ali instead of Pedro Pascal. You may know Ali from his roles in The Hunger Games series and Marvel’s Luke Cage, or his Academy Award winning performances in Moonlight and Green Book. There’s also House of Cards, True Detective … you get it. He’s a talented chap - and a busy one at that.

It was rumoured that Ali was in the running but now it's been confirmed by actor Jeffrey Pierce. Pierce played Perry in episodes four and five of the HBO adaptation, and also played Tommy in the games. When asked about whether he expected to return as Tommy in the TV show before he was offered the role of Perry, Pierce said in an interview with The Direct, “Initially they had talked to Mahershala Ali about playing Joel, which is an obvious cue that I’m not gonna play Tommy. When they cast Pedro, I knew like, yeah, that was certainly not going to happen regardless."

It’s been fun to see the video game actors pop up. The next episode will see Troy Baker - known for playing Joel - portray James, a follower of David. I won’t delve into the specifics but it should be an intense episode. I cannot wait.