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Joe “Joey Pants” Pantoliano, who made a special appearance in the latest episode of The Last of Us, has revealed that he forgot that he had previously met Pedro Pascal when they reunited on set.
Warning: This article contains minor spoilers for The Last of Us season two episode six
Pantoliano, best known for playing Cypher in The Matrix and Ralph Cifaretto in The Sopranos, appeared as Eugene in the HBO game adaptation – a relatively obscure character from the game and the husband of Catherine O’Hara’s character Gail.
Pascal, whose character Joel met his demise in episode two of the current season, returned here in a flashback episode which is presumed to be his final appearance in the show.
The 50-year-old actor has a reputation for being friendly but Pantoliano revealed in an interview with Variety that he was a little taken back when he first met the star on the set of the post-apocalyptic show.
“I saw Pedro, and I was about say, ‘Hi, nice to meet you,’ and all of a sudden he starts going, ‘Joey Pants! Joey Pants!’ And he starts hugging me and kissing me, and ‘How are you, how’ve you been?!’ And I’m like, ‘Oh my God!’” said the veteran character actor.
Confused, Pantoliano admitted that he started to question in his head whether the two had worked together before.
He explained: “Pedro is like, ‘You don’t f***ing remember me?! I’ve been to your house, for Christ’s sake! I’ve been to your apartment in Hoboken!’ Then he said, ‘Sam Weisman? The play reading?’”
Pantoliano said that he then remembered meeting a “skinny” Pascal 25 years ago when the star was still in his early twenties, but that he was now a “whole other person”.
He also revealed that Pascal managed to produce a picture of the reading at his house, which firmly jogged his memory.
“I was like, Holy Christ, yeah, I remember that guy. So it was fantastic to reacquaint myself with him. We went out to dinner, and it was just like no time had diminished, you know, except now he’s a big movie star,” said the 73-year-old.
Speaking about the idea to include Eugene in the series, showrunner Neil Druckmann told Variety in March: “I get excited when I see these opportunities. I’m like, ‘Oh, I don’t know Eugene that well!’ The story we told [in the game] was somewhat superficial. The way this character comes in really gets to the heart of Joel and Ellie and their relationship.”
Eugene is such a peripheral character in the second game that fans might not even recognise the name.
Eugene was a patrolman who lived in Jackson, Wyoming and was a member of the Fireflies with Tommy Miller. He formed a close friendship with Dina (played in the show by Isabela Merced) while living there but died from a stroke in 2038. He’s only really introduced to players of the game when Ellie and Dina, played by Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced in the show, find his abandoned cannabis den.
English (US) ·