Pedro Pascal’s Exit Almost Tanked This Horror Hit With a 100% Rotten Tomatoes Score

Summary

Pedro Pascal had to drop out of an upcoming horror movie due to an overloaded schedule.
Director Zach Cregger had to recast the entire film after Pascal’s departure.
Josh Brolin took over Pascal’s role in the movie, with positive reviews of the upcoming horror film.

Pedro Pascal has quickly become one of the most recognizable faces around the world due to many of his stellar acting roles in projects like HBO’s The Last of Us and The Mandalorian, with directors across Hollywood looking to snap the actor up. Over the last few years, Pascal’s name has been attached to countless big movies and television shows, but one upcoming horror movie saw The Fantastic Four: First Steps star having to drop out because of his overloaded schedule, causing quite a few issues for the director.

Pascal is also gearing up to return next year as Din Djarin in The Mandalorian & Grogu, so the Chilean/American actor already has more than enough on his plate. Regardless, with as much skill for the small and big screen as Pascal has, fans are excited to see even more of him, especially after his incredible role as the survivor Joel in The Last of Us. Even though we bid a sad farewell to the character in season 2 of the post-apocalyptic series in a traumatic event that will haunt fans for a long time to come, in real life, the actor has never been busier, and thankfully, very much alive and kicking. However, due to being one of Hollywood’s most successful actors, trying to fit in every role isn’t always an easy task for the star, as Barbarian director Zach Cregger soon found out.

Weapons Director Reveals Why Pedro Pascal Had To Drop Out of Movie

Talking to Entertainment Weekly in a new interview, Weapons director Zach Cregger revealed that Pedro Pascal was originally cast as the father before Josh Brolin got the role in his upcoming horror movie alongside Brian Tyree Henry, Austin Abrams and Renate Reinsve. But due to the 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes, Pascal’s schedule had then changed, which pushed production on Weapons back, causing Cregger to recast the entire film from the ground up.

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“I had a whole different cast for this movie. And then we had the strike, and then Pedro Pascal’s schedule threw us into turmoil. I had to recast the entire movie.”

“This is what happens, right?” Cregger went on to add. “The strikes delayed us, and then when you delay, people’s schedules get conflicts, and then you’re back at square one. I bear no ill will towards anybody. We just kept getting delayed and delayed. It’s like a domino effect. So I had to start over again.” Out of the remaining cast members that could stay on for the movie, which included Pascal, Brian Tyree Henry, Renate Reinsve, and Austin Abrams, Cregger said that Abrams, who plays a homeless drug addict, was the only one who made it to the end. “He hung tough with me. That’s my dude right there,” expressed Cregger.

Due to Pascal having to drop out of the movie, Josh Brolin took the reins as the film’s protagonist, Archer Graff, a character whose young son disappears along with the rest of the students from a single classroom at the local Maybrook Elementary School. Julia Garner also stars, taking up the role of Justine Gandy, a teacher whose students mysteriously disappear overnight. Weapons‘ cast also stars Benedict Wong, Whitmer Thomas, June Diane Raphael, and Toby Huss. So far, critics are loving the Barbarian director’s new horror flick as it currently sits pretty with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, with some calling the film “one of the most creative, unpredictable and at times gory films I’ve seen this year.”

Weapons arrives in cinemas on August 8.