Walton Goggins and Pedro Pascal formed a friendship that has stood the test of time in Hollywood.
Over the years, Goggins and Pascal have found individual success with their careers. Goggins originally caught fans’ eyes playing a corrupt detective on The Shield before acting opposite Timothy Olyphant on Justified from 2010 to 2015. He went on to appear on The Righteous Gemstones, Fallout and season 3 of The White Lotus. Movie lovers might recognize Goggins for his roles in The Accountant, Predators, The Hateful Eight and Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Pascal, meanwhile, found his breakout success on Game of Thrones as Oberyn Martell before booking Narcos, The Mandalorian and The Last of Us. He also starred in movies such as Wonder Woman 1984, Gladiator II and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
In 2024, Goggins and Pascal finally shared the screen in The Uninvited. Goggins reflected on the movie, which followed a stranger crashing a party that led to a comedy of errors.
“I’ve seen my friends’ mistakes. I’ve seen the decisions they’ve made, both to be involved in something and then to not be involved with something,” the actor told Variety. “But the more opportunities you get to play pretend, the better you become at playing pretend.”
Goggins credited his friend Pascal for helping him adjust to his success while remaining grounded. Keep scrolling to relive Goggins and Pascal’s friendship:
March 2024
Goggins and Pascal collaborated on The Uninvited, which was the directorial debut of Goggins’ wife, Nadia Conners. While promoting the movie, Goggins was asked if he took any advice from Pascal about filming Fallout, which is based on a video game just like Pascal’s hit HBO series The Last of Us.
“I didn’t. He’s a good friend of mine, but I didn’t talk to him about my experience,” he told The Guardian at the time. “I talked to him about his experience because I was blown away by what he did.”
Goggins continued: “Obviously, we were talking when he was in Canada, hearing what a great time he had, but I didn’t say, ‘So what does it mean to make a successful game adaptation?’ I wouldn’t ever speak for Pedro, but I can’t imagine he woke up every morning with that pressure either.”
May 2024
Goggins shared a photo of himself with Pascal and Sam Rockwell, writing via Instagram, “Even paradise can get lonely … Had cause to go thru and assemble some photos this morning. Came across so many dear friends. Gatdamn I miss y’all … and these two. I miss and love you boys so much!! My friend @piperperabo turned me onto this quote years ago by Lilian Whiting … ‘To be rich in friends is to be poor in nothing.’ Truth.”
As fans watched his journey as Rick on The White Lotus, Goggins reflected on being part of the anthology series.
“It’s like the Super Bowl of culture,” he shared with The Observer about creator Mike White’s “juggernaut” while trying to “honor the moment.”
Goggins acknowledged that the sudden attention was something he discussed with Pascal after his standout performances on The Mandalorian and The Last of Us.
“I don’t have those conversations with my friends,” he noted. “Pedro Pascal is a dear friend of mine, and he’s had this experience for the last two or three years … I suppose he would be the first person I would call, you know. I would have reached out to him if I thought I needed an intervention.”
