2019–present: Worldwide recognition
In February 2019, Pascal made his Broadway debut in an adaptation of King Lear with Glenda Jackson and Ruth Wilson, where he took on the role of Edmund, the cunning and ambitious illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester. Since 2019, Pascal has portrayed the title role in The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars television series, which debuted on Disney+, the show follows the adventures of a lone bounty hunter in the outer reaches of the galaxy. The role brought Pascal much wider recognition, and would later help establish him for his portrayals of father figures. The same year, he starred as Francisco "Catfish" Morales in the Netflix heist drama Triple Frontier, in which he portrays a helicopter pilot.
In 2020, he portrayed Maxwell Lord in the DC Extended Universe film Wonder Woman 1984, directed by Patty Jenkins. Following delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was released to theaters and HBO Max in December 2020. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw called Pascal's character "a version of Norman Vincent Peale, the positive-thinking guru who was such an influence on presidents Nixon and Trump". The New York Times and the BBC both thought that Pascal was miscast for the role. In the film We Can Be Heroes, he played Marcus Moreno. Screen Rant commented on the paternal aspect of the character, "It certainly should be the case that Pascal's fatherly role in a children's movie portrays him as a truly loving and caring father, and that's exactly what [the character] does".
In early 2021, a video from a 2020 virtual play reading of I, My Ruination surfaced on multiple social media platforms of Pascal laughing hysterically then transitioning smoothly into crying. The video quickly became an internet meme, often being paired with the Beach House song "Space Song" to display themes of tragedy on social media.
In 2022, Pascal co-starred with Nicolas Cage in the action comedy film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. His performance was widely praised by critics. A scene in which Pascal's character looks at a gruff and irritated Cage with a grin on his face while driving under the influence of LSD would spawn another internet meme on TikTok. It is commonly used humorously when two parties are in stark disagreement or conflict with each other over a topic in an exaggeratedly emotional fashion, and is paired with the 1969 Mama Cass song "Make Your Own Kind of Music". Pascal also appeared in The Bubble, Judd Apatow's satirical comedy exploring celebrity culture amidst the pandemic. Reviewing the film for The A.V. Club, Luke Y. Thompson called Pascal's character Dieter Bravo a "womanizer", and noted that the character's "fake 'ethnic' accent skewers what he likely has to endure regularly". Shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, the film portrays the protocols adopted during filming due to the event as "purposely a little off-center". He starred in Miu Miu's Women's Tales series short film, directed by Janicza Bravo, titled House Comes With a Bird. In November, he signed with Creative Artists Agency.
In 2023, Pascal starred in HBO's highly anticipated television adaptation, The Last of Us, based on the critically acclaimed 2013 video game, created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. He took on the role of Joel Miller, a hardened survivor in a post-apocalyptic world, tasked with protecting a young girl named Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey. Pascal reportedly received $600,000 per episode. Empire's John Nugent and /Film's Valerie Ettenhofer praised Pascal's performance as the best of his career, citing his ability to portray nuance and rare vulnerability. Druckmann called Ramsey and Pascal's chemistry "a joy." The characterization of the paternal dynamic in the role and the similarity of his character in The Mandalorian earned Pascal international recognition for portraying adoptive father figures. This massive surge in popularity led him to become dubbed "daddy" in internet culture. Around this time, Pascal became a prominent figure in meme culture, with several memes of him achieving viral status, including a meme from a clip of Pascal eating a sandwich during a guest episode of LADbible's "Snack Wars" YouTube series in which he appeared with The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau. Several popular memes of Pascal were derived from The Last of Us episode "Kin", such as one from a scene where Joel is portrayed as having a panic attack, and others relating to his character's tendency to lean on furniture throughout the episode due to being in a constant state of fear.
In February 2023, he hosted a Saturday Night Live episode, with Coldplay as the musical guest. In April, he was added to the cast of Ethan Coen's 2024 film Drive-Away Dolls, and Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In May, he co-starred in the short film Strange Way of Life alongside Ethan Hawke, directed by Pedro Almodóvar. He played Silva, who reunites with Hawke's Jake in the two's older age. Pascal previously expressed his admiration for and desire to work with Almodóvar. Screen Rant noted it as another example of Pascal taking a role with the "dad" archetype. In June, Pascal was named by Carnegie Corporation of New York as an honoree of the Great Immigrants Award. In July, Pascal made history as the first Latino to receive three nominations in the same year for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards. The nominations included Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal in The Last of Us, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his guest-hosting role in an episode of Saturday Night Live, and Outstanding Narrator for his narration in Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World. Pascal also won the Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for The Last of Us in 2024.
In January 2024, he starred in Freaky Tales, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. In June, musician Omar Apollo released his second studio album, God Said No, where Pascal features on the penultimate track, "Pedro", where he contributes a monologue about his heart being "shattered by something". In the animated feature The Wild Robot, he portrayed Fink, a fox who plays a parental role to a goose named Brightbill alongside Lupita Nyong'o's robot Roz. He next starred in Gladiator II, the sequel to Ridley Scott's 2000 film Gladiator. At the end of 2024, he was polled as Grindr's hottest man of the year. Around this time, Pascal was forced to drop-out of several high-profile films including Weapons and Crime 101, due to his packed schedule.
In 2025, Pascal appeared in Celine Song's romantic comedy Materialists, Ari Aster's neo-Western thriller Eddington, and portrayed Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film The Fantastic Four: First Steps. He is slated to reprise the role in the MCU films Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027). He reprised the role of Din Djarin in The Mandalorian & Grogu (2026).
Pascal's upcoming projects include starring in Todd Haynes's film De Noche; his casting in late 2025 was considered important in reviving the production after it had been stalled. He took on the lead role of Alex Serian in the thriller film Behemoth!, written and directed by Tony Gilroy. He rescued both projects from being abandoned after their initial stars backed out.
