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Matthew McConaughey joined the HBO Hall of Fame with his Emmy-nominated lead role on the first season of “True Detective,” and he nearly landed another major part in the network’s video game adaptation of “The Last
of Us.” However, he turned down playing the main character Joel, explaining that “it wasn’t for me at the time.”
“I wasn’t really acting at that point,” the Oscar winner said on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. “That was when I was doing more writing and looking at leadership roles in life. It was really good. I was excited. Correct me if I’m wrong, I’m not a huge TV watcher, we pulled off a real coup with ‘True Detective’ at a time when series were not something that actors like myself or Woody Harrelson would hop over and go do. That one succeeded in a real royal fashion. ‘Last of Us’ was really good but it wasn’t for me at the time.”
“The Last of Us” creator Craig Mazin had previously confirmed on the podcast that he had talked to McConaughey about starring in the zombie apocalypse show, but added “I can’t say that it was serious.”
“It was more of just like, ‘Hey, here’s something we can talk about’… It’s one of those things where I’m sure there’s an alternate universe where it’s a different guy,” Mazin said. “Look, Matthew McConaughey is an amazing actor. I’m sure it would’ve been great, but it would’ve been different and I like the one that we made.”
As fans of the show and video game know, Pedro Pascal landed the role of Joel, a Texas smuggler who is tasked with bringing a young girl (played by Bella Ramsey) across the U.S. after a virus has ravaged the country. Pascal received an Emmy nomination for lead actor in a drama, and the series was also up for outstanding drama.
McConaughey is currently on a press tour for his thriller, “The Rivals of Amziah King,” his first live-action role since 2019’s “The Gentlemen.”
“I don’t know what would have been for me at the time,” he said. “The first thing I came across was ‘Rivals.’ This was extremely particular. It’s one movie. A series, you do have to consider if you want this to succeed, this is something you’ll be doing for years and year and years. Do I want that to be the case in success?”
McConaughey and Woody Harrelson did have a “True Detective” reunion this year, but on Apple TV’s series “Brothers,” where they played fictional versions of themselves who find out they might be related.
