Having long since cemented himself as the internet’s favorite ruggedly handsome daddy, a reputation he’s welcomed with both arms wide open, Pedro Pascal‘s stratospheric ascent into the A-list has arguably reached its peak with The Last of Us.
Sure, he might be the leading man of Disney Plus’ flagship series set in one of the most iconic franchises in history, but he spends a lot of time with his helmet on in The Mandalorian, even more so during the upcoming season 3 given that HBO’s acclaimed video game adaptation shot for a mammoth 11 months.
The story kicked off in 2003 with the onset of the apocalypse, but a band of Redditors have noted that there’s no chance the vintage version of Pascal – who only had a couple of film and television appearances under his belt at the time – would have evolved into the darkly charismatic character audiences have fallen in love with over the course of the show’s first four episodes.
Outside of some flecks of grey in his hair and beard, as well as some sullenness to his expression that comes with spending two decades trotting through the vast nothingness of a ravaged world, Joel aged pretty well all things considered when The Last of Us made its 20-year time jump.
Looking back, 2003’s Pascal was an altogether more fresh-faced proposition, and it’s hard to imagine that dude surviving for so long under such ruthless conditions. The man is aging like a fine wine, and we’ll take today’s iteration any day of the week.
