Inside The Rumors That Pedro Pascal Is Queer & Why He Does Nothing To Shut Them Down
The actor is super tight-lipped about his love life, but not about his love of being a queer icon.
@pascalispunk/Instagram; @entertainmenttonight/TikTok; DFree/Shutterstock.com via Canva Pro As Kim Cattrall's savvy PR maven Samantha Jones famously put it on "Sex and the City" while trying to make her boyfriend a star, "first come the gays, then the girls, then the [entertainment] industry."
Perhaps nobody has been a better proof of this theory than "The Last Of Us" star Pedro Pascal, 47, who has rocketed to household-name status in part because of how beloved he is by queer people.
On second thought, "beloved" might actually be understating things — "thirsted after" is more accurate, and the source of queer people's Pedro Pascal thirst lies in part in the long-held rumors that Pascal himself is queer.
Is Pedro Pascal gay or bisexual?
There's no confirmation (or denial) of Pascal's sexuality.
Although Pascal keeps his private life pretty close to the vest, he definitely has an undeniable affinity for queer people and queer culture.
Pascal has never declared his sexuality but is an outspoken supporter of the LGBTQ community, including his trans sister Lux Pascal.
Pascal has spoken out in favor of gay rights on many occasions.
When his younger sister, Chilean actress Lux Pascal, 28, came out as transgender in 2021, he was the first to embrace her publicly.
Posting a shot of his sister's magazine cover, Pascal, who was born in Santiago, Chile, gave his post the heartfelt caption, "Mi hermana, mi corazón, nuestra Lux" — Spanish for "My sister, my heart, our Lux."
Pascal is also said to have pushed Disney+ to include LGBTQ representation in future seasons of "The Mandalorian," on which he plays the title role, following the show's scandal in which star Gina Carano made transphobic comments.
Pascal has said it's normal for men to be attracted to other men, which some think means he is sexually fluid.
Pedro Pascal's high-profile roles include Joel Miller on HBO's "The Last Of Us," the title role in "The Mandalorian," Javier Peña in Netflix's "Narcos," and the villain Maxwell Lord in "Wonder Woman 1984."
But prior to those, Pascal's most famous role was as the bisexual prince Oberyn Martell in HBO's "Game of Thrones."
In a 2017 interview the Los Angeles Times asked Pascal about a subreddit called "Gay for Oberyn," a Reddit forum for straight men with a crush on Pascal and his character.
Pascal related the forum to sexual fluidity, telling the LA Times, "I think it's all a spectrum, right? Straight men can have — do have — crushes on other men."
"It doesn't make them gay, it doesn't make them bi."
This modern take on sexual orientation, embraced by many queer people, has led many to suspect that Pascal himself is queer and sexually fluid.
He went on to say he was "super-flattered" by the attraction men have to him and his character.
Pedro Pascal has referred to himself with gay and queer slang terms like 'daddy' in interviews and social media posts.
LGBTQ people online frequently refer to Pascal as "daddy," a queer slang term for a hunky older man, especially a gay one.
Pascal has whole-heartedly embraced this moniker, even calling himself a "cool, sl-tty daddy" in a recent red-carpet interview, to the internet's delight.
He also referred to himself as a "dad" in a recent Instagram post showing off a particularly rugged "daddy" look he sported in a scene in "The Last Of Us."
Perhaps most telling of all, in another Instagram post, Pascal jokingly referred to himself as "she" in a caption that reads, "She complicated" in reference to the dramatic photo he shared.
Referring to oneself and each other as "she" has been a common in-joke among gay men for ages, with long-running roots in drag subcultures.
Pascal has also embraced queer culture in-jokes like referring to male idols as "daddy" and female icons as "mother," as he did in this clip about his friends Oscar Isaac and Sarah Paulson.
Pedro Pascal has many gay friends, including lesbian actor Sarah Paulson, his best friend for 30 years.
Pascal and Paulson have been friends since meeting as teenagers in New York City in the 90s, and Paulson was even instrumental in getting Pascal cast in "Game of Thrones."
But while they have been rumored in the past to have been dating, that's highly unlikely to be the case.
Paulson has been in a committed relationship with actress Holland Taylor since 2015 and previously dated lesbian actress Cherry Jones.
Of course, straight men can be best friends with women too.
But Pascal and Paulson seem to relate to each other in ways many gay men and women will instantly recognize in their own friendships, like the banter and barbs they traded while accompanying each other to the 2016 SAG Awards, seen below.
Pedro Pascal has played gay characters throughout his career.
As the internet recently revealed, Pascal's professional ties to the LGBTQ community go all the way back to the 1990s, when he was an unknown actor named Pedro Balmaceda playing a gay man named Greg on MTV's "Undressed."
Nowadays, Pascal is starring alongside Ethan Hawke as a gay cowboy in gay Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar's next film "Strange Way Of Life," premiering at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in May.
Straight men can play gay cowboys too, of course — as Hawke is doing and as straight actors, Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, famously did in 2006's "Brokeback Mountain."
Still, Almodovar's films focus almost exclusively on queer characters and the queer experience, so it wouldn't be surprising if Pascal was attracted to the project for that reason.
Who has Pedro Pascal dated?
Pascal is intensely private about his personal life — which is part of why there is so much speculation over whether he might be gay or bisexual.
But surely much to the internet's chagrin, the people Pascal is known to have dated have all been women.
In the 1990s, Pascal is said to have dated actress Maria Dizzia, best known for her role as Polly Harper in Netflix's "Orange Is The New Black."
Later, in 2014, Pascal was thought to be dating his "Game of Thrones" costar Lena Headey after the two were spotted together and Headey posted a snap of them looking cozy together on Instagram.
He was then linked to "The Mentalist" actress Robin Tunney after they were spotted out together in Los Angeles in 2015.
Of course, dating women doesn't mean Pascal isn't queer, especially given the fluid attitude he has espoused towards sexuality.
Regardless, Pascal's support and embrace of the LGBTQ community, especially trans people, in these difficult times is a welcome departure from how male stars have typically responded to gay rumors.
Even if he is straight, Pascal has proven himself worthy of the title of Gay Icon.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.