Pedro Pascal Proves You Can Be a Celebrity With a Conscience

Pedro Pascal isn’t worried about rocking the boat or saying the wrong thing. And in a world of entertainment monopolies and overlords, constantly forcing us to forgive our celebrities for their lack of humanity, we almost forget how radical honesty can feel

If you’ve spent any amount of time watching celebrities interact with the public and press in the past decade, there’s a general theme that will stand out. Superstars spend a lot of time, money, and personal agency being policed by publicists and an entertainment industry that has turned into something corporate and less, well, fun. It shouldn’t be a surprise when public figures come off as distant or standoffish.

What was once a healthy relationship between celebrities and the media has fractured beyond recognition. The days of sitting down with David Letterman, Sally Jessy Raphael, or Rosie O’Donnell for hours-long interviews are gone. Social media, podcast channels, and influencers have crowded out the spot Hollywood once reserved for professional journalists. In this culture of internet-driven flash points, it’s no wonder celebrities have become reluctant to share their thoughts on important matters. Their livelihood could evaporate if a tweet, quote, or nuance of body language is used against them.

Enter Pedro Pascal.

“The largest misconception is that we’re scared,” he tells Sky News about artists in an industry that uses platforms like Instagram and TikTok to dehumanize people like him. “You just choose not to say certain things because it’s just not your truth. Or you can express a personal truth, but in all honesty, there are things I’m not going to talk about because I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about!”

In some ways, Pascal has emerged into a rare place in Hollywood. A household name who will probably appear on the Marvel poster outside your local cinema in the next 20 years (or who has the potential to, anyway). It’s a strange, and meta sort of thing, because fans don’t view Pascal’s meteoric rise in the same way they view a methodically constructed superhero franchise. He doesn’t feel like a product or a marketing goal—they feels like a human who somehow exists in their favorite films. Which makes his off-screen behavior so essential.

For the 50-year-old actor, who has been acting since he was 14, super-stardom has not made Pascal any less outspoken about causes important to him. In 2023, Pascal is most recognizable as Dr. Miguel Saáz on The Mandalorian, the Salvatore character in Jackpot!, and he headlines Marvel’s latest standalone entry in the cinematic universe, The Fantastic Four: First Steps. A film he told Sky News he was “very excited to make.”

At the time of his interview with Sky News, Pascal was on his London press tour for the Marvel film, where he was asked about his own risks at speaking his mind publicly. From demanding more representation for actors of color to “any organization that takes any amount of money from Russia has got to immediately donate it to Ukraine,” Pascal, a vocal supporter of Doctors Without Borders, knows he’s just one viral headline away from scandal.

The key for him, and the reality for many celebrities, is finding the balance between accountability to one’s public and having personal integrity without feeling paralyzed by public expectations.

“I think it's very easy to get scared, no matter what you sort of talk about,” he said, “there are so many different ways that things can get kind of fractured and have a life of itself.”

Pedro Pascal Has a Lot to Say, and He’s Not Saying Shut the Fuck Up

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is out June 28 in the United Kingdom and on July 28 in the United States. In the film, Pascal stars as the scientist and leader of Marvel’s titular superheroes, Dr. Reed Richards, who has the universe on his shoulders and the arrival of his first child with Sue Storm. A nod, perhaps, at the responsibility that comes with Pascal’s growing platform, both in film and beyond.

Directed by WandaVision’s Matt Shakman, Pascal is surrounded by a cast that includes Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn.

In a film full of other big names and icons, it is Pascal who has a voice, and a voice of reason. His choice to be an engaged and thoughtful actor has set a standard of openness and responsibility at a time when Hollywood often thinks silence is the safest. He isn’t afraid of media backlash. And while Pascal won’t name-drop these organizations specifically in his Sky News interview, he encourages fans to support Doctors Without Borders and The Trevor Project. As someone who frequently uses his Instagram platform to share important information and his politics, it’s not shocking that he puts the same amount of thought and care into his onscreen projects.

Still, it’s admirable that he’s willing to open up about how frightening modern media culture can be, even for him. Because, as the industry continues to evolve from television sets and DVDs to Twitter accounts and YouTube Shorts, Hollywood has forgotten how to be human again.

Actors like Pascal prove that maybe we just need to be reminded of what honesty looks like first.