The Last of Us cast celebrated the show’s one-year anniversary at the 2023 Emmy Awards on Monday, January 15.
Pedro Pascal led the HBO drama, which premiered on January 12, 2023, as Joel Miller, alongside Bella Ramsey as Ellie Williams — and they both rocked the red carpet. Pascal, 48, walked alongside his sister Lux and wore an all-black look. and yes, his arm was still in a sling. Ramsey, 20, rocked a green suit with a purple button-down and smiled for the cameras.
Both Pascal and Ramsey are up for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, respectively. The show itself is up for various awards, including Outstanding Drama Series. The show’s “Long, Long Time” episode received nods for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series as well.
The Last of Us also became the first-ever live-action video game adaptation to be nominated in any major Emmy Awards categories.
The HBO series, based on the video game of the same name, followed Joel as he traveled cross country with Ellie on a hunt to find his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna). Along the way, he discovered that Ellie is immune to the Cordyceps virus that’s taken over the world and created zombie-like creatures who attack healthy humans.
The show’s premiere episode became HBO’s second-biggest debut in over a decade with 4.7 million viewers across HBO and the Max streaming service. Even more tuned in for the finale in March 2023, which racked up a total of 8.2 million viewers.
“I didn’t know what the game was, but HBO had sent the scripts over, and I was put through a process of auditioning,” Pascal recalled to Deadline in June 2023 about nabbing the lead role. “Not a terribly arduous one, but one that had to be related to having read the scripts. I realized in reading episodes 1 and 2, that once Joel met Ellie, it was a part that you undeniably had to chase and play. I was blown away by the world of it.”
While Pascal “wanted to do it,” he had a “plan” for the future of his career.
“Within a 24-hour period, this project intercepted everything because of how special I thought it was,” he recalled. “And then I found out that it was this big f—king popular game that people lose their minds over.”
