The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) held their 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, where Pedro Pascal won his first award this award season, which in my opinion, was a long time coming.
Pascal was awarded Best Male Actor in a Drama Series for his role in “The Last of Us,” which premiered on Max Jan. 15, 2023.
Pascal played Joel Miller in the series and I am terrified for the next season. Based on the actual video game, it is a poorly kept secret what happens to his character and I am not prepared.
However, some people say the show will spend more time with the characters before diving into all the canon events that take place in “The Last of Us Part II.”
Other actors nominated in this category were Brian Cox for his role in “Succession,” Billy Crudup for his role in “The Morning Show,” Kieran Culkin and Matthew Macfadyen also for “Succession.”
However, when taking the stage to accept his award, Pascal said he was not accepting this and that he was drunk because he didn’t think he would be on stage, but was grateful for the award.
“This is wrong for so many reasons,” Pascal said. “I’m a little drunk. I thought I could get drunk. I’m making a fool of myself but thank you so much for this.”
In earlier award shows, Pascal had lost in the category to Culkin, which went viral when Culkin said to Pascal in his acceptance of the award to “suck it” at the Golden Globes.
In response, when Pascal announced an award at this year’s Emmys, he said that “Kiernan Culkin beat the s— out of him” in regard to his shoulder injury that required him to wear a shoulder sling.
Overall, the interactions between Culkin and Pascal made the award shows more interesting to watch for me. It also prompted me to watch more interviews with both of them to hear more about the feud they were perpetrating.
Pascal thanked the SAG, despite not remembering their names and said he had been in the union for the past 25 years.
“I’ve been in the union since 1999 so this is an incredible f—— honor,” Pascal said. “To the nominees, all of you, I can’t remember any of your names right now.”
Pascal also thanked HBO staff Franny and Casey for giving him a job. And that it was appropriate since he grew up watching their network, and that he had “no skills” or other interests, so the least they could do was give him a job.
I find this extremely funny considering his acting skills have brought me to tears in the past, cough, “Game of Thrones,” cough, but to hear him say he has no skills made me burst out laughing.
To end his speech, he thanked his family, who he was unsure were watching and left the stage saying he was going to have a panic attack.
“My family is maybe watching. I’m not sure,” Pascal said. “I’m going to have a panic attack and I’m going to leave.”
With that being his closing statement made me love him even more than I already did, which is a lot. It is one of the most relatable statements I have ever heard, I would definitely wear a shirt that said this exact phrase.
When later asked on the red carpet by a Netflix interviewer about his acceptance speech, Pascal said he did not remember what he said.
Pascal truly deserved this award and then some. He is one of the most talented actors I have ever watched while also being a true, kind-hearted person. He is a breath of fresh air in Hollywood. I cannot wait to see what he will do next.
Boggess can be reached at [email protected].
