Everyone remembers the first time they saw Pedro Pascal. Or, at least, they should remember. For most of us, it was when we saw him as Prince Oberyn Martell in the hit HBO series Game of Thrones. And in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Pascal credited the role for changing his entire career. Prior to the series, he was in things like Graceland, starring opposite Aaron Tveit, and was famously in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But he hadn’t yet hit it “big” and the actor said that it allowed him to then go on to get roles like Javier Peña in Narcos.
“It was a game changer,” he said to the publication. Oberyn joined the series in Season 4 of Game of Thrones. “It’s the reason that I’m here now, I think. I don’t think I know. I still can’t believe it happened that [showrunners] David Benioff [and] Dan Weiss would take this chance.” David Benioff and D. B. Weiss brought the show to fans for 8 seasons, and at the time, Pascal was doing Off-Broadway work, very different from now, where he is Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. “They could have had, I don’t know, whoever they wanted and that they actually paid attention to somebody who had a lot of, you know, regional theater, Off-Broadway work and episodic television on their résumé to step into this kind of a part in the height of their popularity,” he said. “And to this day, I kind of am indebted to them for my career.”
He told Vanity Fair that he was “such a fan of the show” and said that even if he didn’t end up becoming the mega star he is today because of it, he’d still have found Oberyn to be “special” to him. “I was obsessed with the show,” he said. “Getting to go and be with this ensemble and on those locations in a comfortable costume and in a really good role? I could barely f—— believe what was happening to me, to be honest with you.”
One Scene in ‘Game of Thrones’ Blew Pedro Pascal’s Mind
Oberyn Martell comes to King’s Landing on a mission: He wants to find the man responsible for his sister’s death. That man is the Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson). But this mission led to a scene where everyone is sitting at a table, including Charles Dance, Peter Dinklage, and the entire Lannister family. Pascal said, “I was sitting in the throne room during Tyrion’s trial and I had a view of everyone and I was with all of these main players and it was just nuts,” he said.
Tragically, Oberyn Martell is killed by the Mountain, and despite stabbing him with a poisoned knife, it is not enough to take down the Mountain. Instead, the Mountain brutally murders Oberyn by crushing his eyes into his skull. But for Pascal, he said it was nicer than we’d imagine. “As violent as it looks, he was very gently pressing up against my eyes. You’d think that his entire weight would be on me with the costume. I didn’t feel him at all.”
You can see Pascal in Game of Thrones, streaming now on HBO Max.
Source: Vanity Fair