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Exclusive: While it was the second season of the hit HBO series The last of us In the works, it looks like its star Pedro Pascal has found the project he’ll be filming during his hiatus, and boy is it a big one. Sources say by Deadline, Pascal is in final negotiations to join Untitled wrestler sequel to Paramount. Joining Paul Mescal, who will play Lucious, are Barry Keoghan, Joseph Quinn, Connie Nielsen, and Denzel Washington. Ridley Scott returns to direct.
The new movie follows the 2000 movie wrestlerwhich earned more than $460 million at the worldwide box office and was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, winning five including Best Picture.
The role of Maximus, a Roman general turned gladiator, was a career changer for Russell Crowe, not only bringing him a Best Actor Oscar but also putting him at the top of every A-list. Once it was made clear last year that the sequel would be Scott’s next film, every male actor in town who fit the profile began chasing the part.
Scott will also produce, along with Scott Free boss Michael Bruce as well as Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher via Red Wagon Entertainment. David Scarpa wrote the screenplay. Also returning from the original film are John Matheson (director of photography), Arthur Max (production designer) and Janty Yates (costume designer). Paramount Pictures has dated the film as November 22, 2024.
The first film was a co-production between Universal and DreamWorks, and while DreamWorks will not be involved in the sequel, Universal has the right to become involved again when the project is packaged.
While Pascal was a major player after his scene-stealing turn in his only season game of thrones, His star took off after the critically acclaimed the last of us, which has become one of the most popular shows in HBO history. While HBO was looking to pick up the show and go next year, Pascal was weighing a number of options for filming before returning to it, and this movie was too hard to pass up.
next to the last of us, Which will surely get him into the talk of this awards season Emmy, and he also reprized the role in the hit Disney+ series the mandalorian, which concluded last season last week.
Pascal can next be seen starring alongside Ethan Hawke in Pedro Almodóvar’s short film, strange way of life, which will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, and will be distributed by Sony Pictures Classics this fall. Additionally, Pascal has appeared in the movie Ethan Coen Push away the dollsdistributed by Focus Features and released September 2023. Pascal also stars in Anna Boden’s Freaky Tales which is likely to be released later this year.
He also hosted Saturday Night Live earlier this year, which earned him rave reviews and is also in contention for some Emmy love this awards season.
Pascal is represented by CAA and Kimberly Jaime in Jackoway Austen.
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