Matthew McConaughey was in the race of Joel in 'The Last Of Us'

The Last Of Us writer Craig Mazin revealed Matthew McConaughey, not Mahershala Ali, was approached for the role of Joel, which landed Pedro Pascal in the series.

As the showrunner of the hit-HBO drama, Craig Mazin confirmed the rumors on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that the True Detective star was in talks for the role.

"I actually never talked to Mahershala," he confirmed.

"I did talk to Matthew. I wouldn't say that it was serious; it was more of just like, 'Hey, here's something we can talk about.'"

Further, the writer explained, "Initially, Pedro was on our list from the start, but we were told that he was unavailable.

And then, as we were kinda floundering around a little bit, I got a call from his agent who said, 'You know, he actually might be available.'"

Earlier, the series actor Jeffrey Pierce, best known for voicing Tommy in video games, told The Direct, "I think initially they had talked to Mahershala Ali about playing Joel, which is an obvious cue that I'm not gonna play Tommy."