He started with Grogu, and then Ellie — now, Pedro Pascal is ready to be the entire internet’s daddy as the actor admits he’s been having fun with the whole thing.
Taking part in the Hollywood Reporter’s roundtable interview, the actor addressed his own daddy status. When asked by moderator Lacey Rose about what he thinks about the internet’s decision to adopt him as their “father,” The Last of Us actor said, “I’m having fun with it.” Good to know because a lot of people might be weirded out by the thought of fully-grown strangers calling them “daddy” online. Luckily for us, Pascal seems cool with it. Considering how well he served at the Met Gala, it’s obvious he’s known for a while that he’s daddy material.
The Mandalorian star went on to further elaborate and theorize why he thought the internet had given him the moniker. “I think that it seems a little role-related. I think there was a period where The Mandalorian is very ‘daddy’ to baby Grogu, Joel is very ‘daddy’ to Ellie. These are daddy parts.” While he’s certainly played a lot of father figures on TV, for some, it goes deeper than that. Pedro just has a paternal quality about him, and that’s what makes him daddy material.
When asked by Jeff Bridges whether he was, in fact, a daddy, Pascal confirmed he did not have kids. “I’m not a daddy, and I’m not gonna be a daddy.” He’s clearly too busy raising his million-plus internet children to have any of his own. Kieran Culkin, of Succession fame, also chipped in with the whole daddy conversation as he quipped, “I’m a daddy, nobody likes my daddy parts.”
Aside from talking about his experience being a daddy, Pascal also spoke about other aspects of his career, including his experiences and the pressures he felt working on such beloved franchises. He talked about his experience playing The Last of Us game for the first time after getting the part. He also spoke on where he’d like to potentially take his career next — maybe even take fewer daddy roles.
“I’ve had the interesting experience and the fortune to be part of jobs that have these kind of franchise-sized successes […] But they’ve all felt like these kinds of big machines, you know? So it would be really interesting to see what happens if I can step into something that is more of a risk.”
While Pedro Pascal’s career may change, he will forever remain the internet’s daddy. No matter what, that’s something that will stick. At least he’s in on the whole phenomenon and sees the funny side of it, as all good dads would.
