The Mandalorian and The Last of US star Pedro Pascal told Variety that enduring setbacks were part of his acting career before his Game of Thrones breakthrough. In an interview published October 23, 2026, he urged aspiring performers to keep pursuing work without abandoning themselves.
The actor discussed his career on the publication’s Awards Circuit podcast while promoting Behemoth!, written and directed by Tony Gilroy. Asked what he wished someone had told him during his early years, Pascal talked about perseverance and other people’s generosity.
Quick read
- Pedro Pascal says setbacks are part of success.
- He credits others’ generosity for his career.
- Stay true to yourself and enjoy the journey.
Pedro Pascal on the value of perseverance
Pascal had done two decades of small television and theater roles before Game of Thrones changed his career at 39. The interviewer asked what Pascal would tell someone still waiting for that opportunity.
“You’ve got to eat sh*t, and you’ve got to take a lot of sh*t,” Pascal said. “That’s part of it.” He explained that those experiences helped build his character and informed how he wanted to treat people.
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For Pascal, that meant protecting generosity rather than forgetting the people who supported him. He credited others with making his career possible, without singling out one person responsible for his success.
“There isn’t any way I would be here were it not for the generosity of others who have been there for me,” he said. He added that he owed things to an entire population of people in his life.
His advice also addressed the pressure to change in pursuit of an acting career. Pascal urged people to trust their own approach rather than reshape themselves around expectations that felt wrong.
Credits: HBO
He argued that trying every day could sometimes include doing nothing, provided someone still cared about their pursuit. Loving the work and following it in their own way mattered to him more than meeting someone else’s expectations.
“Have faith in that,” Pascal said. He warned against molding oneself into something that felt false, or accepting expectations that required even a small internal betrayal.
The question also took him back to the year Game of Thrones aired. He recalled returning to theater as Don John in Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare in the Park, directed by Jack O’Brien.
Pascal remembered how long he had waited for that year, going back to when he left high school. He also recognized how much he now missed it.
Pascal misses “Behemoth”
He then thought about filming The Last of Us in Alberta and sharing that series with audiences. Working on Behemoth! had left him with another experience he already missed, including the character and his daily time with colleagues.
“I miss ‘Behemoth!’ more than I miss anything I’ve ever done,” he told the publication. “I miss the character.” He also recalled missing Gilroy and being with everyone each day.
Those memories led him to remind himself to pay attention to his current experiences. He expected to miss them within a few years, just as he missed earlier periods of his career.
“Pay attention,” Pascal said. “Enjoy it.” His answer combined that wish to appreciate the present with advice not to abandon his own approach to work.
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