The Last Of star Pedro Pascal says he and Joel are 'both A-holes'

There are a lot of asshole characters in the world of video games, TV and movies, but that doesn't mean that we still don’t love them.

One such character is Joel from Naughty Dog and HBO’s The Last of Us. Joel is a very conflicting character. Just a heads up, I’ll be doing my best to avoid spoilers for both the video games as well as the live-action adaptation in this article.

During the opening moments of The Last of Us Part I, we are given a glimpse of the kind-hearted, lovable family man that Joel is during his interaction with his daughter, Sarah. However, as fans of the game and the series know, that all quickly changes.

Following a certain incident, we jump forward 20 years and the Joel we once knew has gone. Though we did see brief glimpses of the man he used to be later in the game and TV series. While we don’t see all of what Joel was up to during those twenty years, it’s made clear that he’s done some very bad things.

He’s injured and killed people, as well as smuggled drugs and weapons, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. To be fair to Joel, he has not only become a product of past trauma but also the harsh new world in which he exists. Not only do vicious infected plague the world but it’s also run by cruel government militia, terrorists (or freedom fighters), bandits and more. In other words, you adapt or likely die a brutal death.

As reported by Comicbook.com, during an interview with Deadline, Pedro Pascal (Joel) and Bella Ramsey (Ellie) were both asked how similar they are to the characters that they play in The Last of Us. Pascal simply replied that he and Joel are “both assholes.”

However, Ramsey gave a more detailed answer. “Well, there's lots of similarities for me. I feel Ellie came very naturally to me, and I didn't have to really try very hard,” said the actor.

Ramsey continued: “My American personality is Ellie because I learned the American accent through Ellie's dialogue. So now, whenever I speak in an American accent, for whatever reason, I become Ellie. I swear in an American accent, too. In my own [British] accent, it just sounds wrong, the words don't come out properly, and it trips me out. But I'll happily call you a motherf*****g asshole or dumbass [laughs].”

In related news, Hollywood legendary director Steven Spielberg agrees that the Bill and Frank episode ‘Long, Long Time’ is a masterpiece, and Bella Ramsey has promised that season two of The Last of Us will be way darker.