Supernatural star Jenson Ackles wanted to play Joel in HBO's The Last Of Us

We’re less than a month away from the premiere of HBO’s The Last of Us series which is a fact that I’m very, very excited about - something that won’t surprise anyone who knows me. If you didn’t know, the series - which stars Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie - is set to premiere on 15 January on HBO, or 16 January on Sky Atlantic here in the UK.

The press tour is well underway, and showrunner and director Craig Mazin recently hailed The Last of Us as “the greatest story ever told in games,” a statement that began a fierce debate here at GAMINGbible. Craig, I’m with you. We’ve even had some early reviews trickle in and the reception appears to be extremely positive thus far. HBO are sparing no expenses when it comes to the show, clearly hoping for it to become their next major flagship franchise. It’s no surprise then that so many actors were vying for the role of Joel.

Check out the latest trailer for The Last of Us below.

Supernatural and The Boys star Jensen Ackles has revealed that he desperately wanted to portray Joel in the series. In a video shared to Reddit by user Ok-Owl-2547, Ackles seemingly told attendees of a convention, “I was really kind of pushing hard, but I don’t think I was really in a mix or even had a shot at it, for Pedro Pascal’s role in The Last of Us. I was like woah. That was high up on my radar.”

What do you think? Could Ackles have pulled off playing Joel? I’m sure he could’ve, but I think you’d all agree with me that we’re content and thrilled to have Pascal in the role. That goes for all of the cast. I can’t wait to see Bella Ramsey shine as Ellie and will scream if I read one more ‘she doesn’t look like the character’ post.

The latest trailer for the show actually cleared up a couple of mysteries. We now know that the David storyline will in fact be included. The character will be portrayed by Scott Shepard, while video game actor Troy Baker will portray a member of his gang. Ashley Johnson, who plays Ellie in the game, is confirmed to be playing Ellie’s mum Anna in the show. I sense that we’re in for an emotional ride.