Pedro Pascal talks the 'incredibly challenging' filming of 'The Last of Us' and getting to work with Ethan Hawke after growing up on his movies

• Pedro Pascal currently stars in popular shows like "The Last of Us" and "The Mandalorian."
• Pascal currently has several new projects, including a series of mysterious ads for "Merge Mansion."

Pedro Pascal is having a moment.

The Chilean-born actor, who rose to prominence playing Oberyn Martell in "Game of Thrones," has invaded millions of televisions in recent months with a potent one-two punch, returning as the titular character in "The Mandalorian" and starring in HBO's critically acclaimed TV adaptation "The Last of Us."

It's Pascal's riveting turn as Joel, a hardened survivor who treks across a pandemic-ravaged America with Ellie (Bella Ramsey), that has some critics speculating the actor could earn his first Emmy nod for outstanding lead actor in a drama series, becoming the second-ever Latino to be recognized in the category.

The actor, for his part, has been pretty open about the joys and rigors he experienced during the production of "The Last of Us," which included one month of prep and 11 months of shooting across the western Canadian province of Alberta.

"It was incredibly challenging, but it was more fun than anything else because of how delicious the scripts are, the characters, the creators, the team, putting it all together, the locations, the cultural environment of being in Canada and having a Canadian crew and all of these elements that fell into line with one another," Pascal told Insider while promoting his collaboration with Metacore for the game "Merge Mansion."

"It didn't mean that it wasn't hard work, and that it wasn't a very specific kind of physical labor for everyone," he continued, adding that the crew was a mix of fans of the game and non-fans that became part of a family during production.

"That's kind of what happened. A very large family going through a very contained experience, and it was really wonderful for everybody," he said.

As the actor recalled during HBO's "Making of The Last of Us" documentary, released in March, one physically taxing situation involved filming in the frigid cold of Canada for episode eight.

"There was a day of shooting, and we were out in the elements," Pascal said in the documentary. "There was snow everywhere, and we were on the side of a mountain, and it was really cold, and there was a trek through the snow, and there were three or four house-size wind machines. I loved it. I love it. I want to go back."

It's unclear when "The Last of Us" season two will eventually air, but Pascal and Ramsey will reprise their roles, with showrunner Craig Mazin teasing that the second season, which will move shooting locations to Vancouver, "won't be exactly like the game."

Pascal, in the meantime, is enjoying the fruit of his labors. While "The Mandalorian" elevated Pascal's status in the cultural zeitgeist, it's "The Last of Us" that catapulted the actor to a stratospheric level of stardom and virality. He hosted his first episode of "Saturday Night Live" in early February, earning rave reviews. Even his heavily caffeinated Starbucks order has been widely dissected.

But while Pascal has embraced his fame, admitting as much in February on "The Graham Norton Show," the actor remains passionate about his work. Upcoming projects include an HBO limited series entitled "My Dentist's Murder Trial," which is based on a 2017 New Yorker article costars David Harbour.

There's also "Strange Way of Life," a 30-minute queer western, directed by Pedro Almodóvar and costarring Ethan Hawke. Debuting at the Cannes Film Festival in May, Pascal plays Silva, who visits his longtime friend Sheriff Jake (Hawke) after 25 years apart. Jake tells Silva there's more to their reunion than simply revisiting their friendship.

"This is a queer western in the sense that there are two men, and they love each other, and they behave in that situation in an opposite way," Almodóvar revealed during an episode of the podcast "Dua Lipa: At Your Service" in early December.

Pascal told Insider he joined the project because of Almodóvar. The prodigiously gifted director, who has won two Oscars, two Golden Globes, and five BAFTA awards during a career spanning nearly 50 years, remains one of Pascal's favorite working writer-directors.

"He absolutely opened up an entire world of storytelling, color, culture, rebellion, and sexuality that was just absolutely intoxicating, dangerous, hilarious, heartbreaking, and encompassing the whole spectrum, but with such a signature style," Pascal said, referring to working with Almodóvar.

"It could have been anything that he asked me to do, and I would have done it without question," he continued, adding that it especially wasn't hard to convince him considering who his costar would be.

"To get to work with Ethan, whose movies I've seen since I was a little kid, who I've seen on stage off-Broadway, on Broadway, whose books I've read, whose plays I've seen him direct, and big movie, small movies, horror movies. It was really an incredible opportunity to go, learn, and to enjoy the experience of being on the level of people like that," he said. "Taking it all in was incredible."

Another project on Pascal's plate is a series of mysterious ads for Metacore's mobile game "Merge Mansion." Filmed in Lisbon, the ads feature the actor as Tim Rockford, a tenacious detective investigating what Grandma Ursula is up to. (Spoiler: He hasn't figured out grandma's shenanigans — yet.)

"I particularly like a mystery," Pascal told us. "I like the tone and atmosphere of this kind of experience that 'Merge Mansion' provides."

For Pascal, who honed his acting skills in stage productions, TV projects, and films, shooting a trio of minute-long commercials was an entirely unique experience.

"What I love is that different opportunities continue to emerge, and content continues to emerge in so many different ways," he explained. "And I'm being introduced to the world of gaming in a way that the stories are as compelling to those that kind of had me and held my imagination as a kid and as a teenager and as a young adult and now."

"My past is exemplary of not wanting to limit what the opportunities are or what the experiences are," he continued.

Pascal's versatility as an actor and his eagerness to try disparate roles in film, TV, and onstage were arguably essential ingredients to his success — and it's why Pascal will be a compelling actor to watch for years to come long after people have stopped obsessing over superficialities like his six-espresso shot Starbucks order.