Though Pedro Pascal rose to prominence in the mid-2010s and seemed to quite rapidly become a household name, he’d been active as an actor for years before then. His earliest credits date back to the late 1990s, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer being one of many shows he appeared in as a one-off character, later sometimes appearing in multiple episodes of a show, like with The Good Wife and Lights Out by the early 2010s.
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A certain soon-to-be-mentioned high-profile fantasy show helped catapult his career forward, and since 2014, he’s been active both in film and on television. As such, going over the best work he’s done as an actor naturally means looking at both movies and TV shows, with some generally entertaining supporting performances in the former medium and a surprising number of starring roles in the latter.
10 'Kingsman: The Golden Circle' (2017)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Admittedly, Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a pretty flawed sequel, because while it hits some of the high points that the original film did, it falters in other areas and doubles down on some stuff that really doesn’t work. It is technically more Kingsman, for better or worse. It plays some things safe, and in other areas, it takes risks, and on both counts, it’s hit or miss.
But – and this is a big but – Pedro Pascal is great in his supporting role here, and seeing as he’s one of the best parts of the movie, Kingsman: The Golden Circle can cautiously be called one of the better films he’s been in. Pascal’s charming and shines in the over-the-top action sequences he gets to take part in, so The Golden Circle might well be worth a watch for any big fan of the actor for him alone.
9 'Prospect' (2018)
Directors: Zeek Earl, Christopher Caldwell
Prospect is a pretty solid science fiction movie overall, arguably no more and no less. It’s one of the more underrated films Pedro Pascal has starred in to date, here playing the father of a teenage girl, with the story following the two of them as they travel to a distant moon for the purpose of mining and collecting rare materials found there.
Complications ensue when other people want what the main characters are after, and then there’s inevitable conflict, struggles, and an eventual fight for survival. It’s pretty grounded in many ways, and Prospect, it’s fair to say, isn't quite a blockbuster by sci-fi standards… but anyone after something more intimate and small-scale could well get something out of this, with solid performances here from Pascal and Sophie Thatcher, who plays his character’s daughter.
8 'The Mandalorian' (2019-)
Creator: Jon Favreau
Most will admit Star Wars was in a bit of a shaky place in 2019 movie-wise, so The Mandalorian ended up being a breath of fresh air, at least for a little while. It broke away from the Skywalker saga (again, at least initially), and felt refreshingly episodic and pulpy, following a bounty hunter who ends up being the protector of a child originally known as “Baby Yoda” before formally being dubbed Grogu.
The first season of The Mandalorian had just enough of an overarching story to satisfy, all the while providing some fun and generally light-hearted self-contained adventures. Season 2 deepened the story and the connection to other Star Wars media while generally remaining enjoyable, but then season 3 dipped a bit in quality. Also, Pedro Pascal is really only in this as a voice role at this stage (you seldom see his face, owing to his character’s dedication to keeping his mask on), but he did bring a lot to the show early on, and continues to be solid, even into the less consistent third season.
7 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' (2022)
Director: Tom Gormican
Even though it has some shortcomings, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent did gift the world with a buddy dynamic between Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal, and that’s undoubtedly worth something. It’s a movie with an enticing premise, too, with Cage playing a fictionalized version of himself, and Pascal playing a wealthy criminal named Javi Gutierrez who’s a massive fan of this version of Nicolas Cage.
So, Cage travels to Javi’s island for a birthday event in which he stands to earn $1 million, and chaos ensues. As far as buddy comedy action movies go, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent mines some familiar territory, but Cage and Pascal, as a duo, elevate things considerably. Additionally, it is a fun tribute to Nicolas Cage and his eclectic body of work, so the movie does ultimately have more than enough going for it to make it worth a watch.
6 'Gladiator II' (2024)
Director: Ridley Scott
Perhaps the best of the true blockbusters Pedro Pascal has appeared in so far, Gladiator II is a sequel to a classic that came out almost a quarter of a century ago. Due to how many characters died in that film, only a select few return in Gladiator II, necessitating some new characters played by the likes of Pascal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, and Fred Hechinger, all, at different points, being somewhat in opposition to Paul Mescal’s mysterious (if you’ve avoided seeing any trailers) protagonist.
It's not a slam-dunk of a film, but just as Ridley Scott has made better, he’s also been behind worse. Pascal is really good here for what he’s given, even if Mescal and Washington get a bit more to do. Much of the time, the performances aren’t too focused on. The action is probably what people are after when they enter into Gladiator II, and on that front, they’ll probably leave moderately entertained.
5 'If Beale Street Could Talk' (2018)
Director: Barry Jenkins
Though If Beale Street Could Talk didn’t reach the same level of popularity as Barry Jenkins’ previous film, Moonlight, it was still extremely well-made and represented something of a step forward for the director, at least in terms of ambition. It had a more intricate story and balanced romance and drama well, commenting on certain social issues more explicitly, while Moonlight was more direct, and mostly definable as a coming-of-age movie.
If Beale Street Could Talk doesn’t have much Pedro Pascal, if that’s what you're after, but he makes the most of a small yet memorable role here. Sure, he’s a small part of what makes If Beale Street Could Talk so compelling, but his scene adds a good deal and, lengthy screen time or not, Pascal does still manage to shine with what he has to work with.
4 'The Wild Robot' (2024)
Director: Chris Sanders
Hey, if The Mandalorian is worth considering as a significant piece of entertainment featuring Pedro Pascal, despite mostly just being his voice, then voice roles for animated movies are worth considering, too. Pascal is featured prominently in The Wild Robot which, though a very good movie in numerous ways, does stand out for the strength of its cast of voice actors.
Lupita Nyong'o is the standout as the robot protagonist stranded on an island filled with animals who seem resistant to the help she wants to offer, but Pascal is also good as a fox named Fink, and he disappears into the voice-only performance in a way that makes it not entirely obvious, at first, that Pedro Pascal is even part of the film. His charisma as an actor shines through even in animation, with him and the other voice actors here complementing the film’s beautiful visuals, stirring music, and simple yet emotionally impactful storyline about belonging, acceptance, and finding one’s purpose in life.
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3 'Narcos' (2015-2017)
Creators: Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro
As perhaps the actor’s second big role, Narcos showed that Pedro Pascal wasn’t just a one-trick pony of an actor, and had what it took to stick around for the long haul. Narcos was among the early Netflix originals that felt quite bold and subversive at the time of release, initially being about the conflict between Pablo Escobar and the DEA, but growing a little more in scope as it went along.
It might not have had the ability to grow into something grand enough to be the next The Wire, but much of Narcos was very compelling as far as crime/drama shows go. Pascal played the real-life DEA agent Javier Peña, and, significantly, stuck through the whole of the original series, being one of the few cast members to show up in all three seasons, and the only actor credited with being in all 30 episodes.
2 'The Last of Us' (2023-)
Creators: Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann
It’s with some caution that The Last of Us gets praised, currently, given that as of 2024, it has only aired one season and it’s not entirely uncommon for shows to fall apart as they go along. The source material was divisive, following the first game in the series, so the TV show might follow the same path. Some might love where it goes, some might not. It could let everyone down. But what can be said is that the first season of The Last of Us is pretty great.
It's one of the better video game adaptations out there, and certainly high-quality as far as zombie shows go. It puts a new spin on the survival genre and works best as a character-focused drama, centering on Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), with both actors being excellent. There’s pathos, tension, and spectacle found in the first season of The Last of Us; certainly enough for it to, so far, feel like one of the very best things Pascal has starred in.
1 'Game of Thrones' (2011-2019)
Creators: David Benioff, D. B. Weiss
In contrast to Narcos, where he was the most credited actor, Pedro Pascal was only in a select few Game of Thrones episodes, but boy did he make an impression regardless. After about a decade and a half of showing up in odd episodes of various network shows here and there, Pascal’s role in the fourth season of Game of Thrones made him a sensation straight away. Sure, he played one of the best supporting characters from the book series, but doing someone like Oberyn Martell justice was never going to be easy.
Not only did Pascal do him justice, but the show version of Oberyn arguably made even more of an impact than the book version did, and that’s in large part thanks to Pedro Pascal. Game of Thrones, at its best, was a great drama series that understandably provided a fair few actors with breakout roles, but few of them broke out so substantially – and with so few episodes overall – as Pascal ultimately did, and that makes it arguably the best of his roles so far, and the best piece of film/TV he's been a part of to date.
