Newsletter | The Marvels Fronting Hollywood's Star Franchises

This column is published as part of our newsletter Stream Of Consciousness, for March 2023. Subscribe here. (We're awesome about not spamming your inbox!)

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WHEN YOU THINK OF Hollywood franchise royalty, Pedro Pascal may not be the first actor who comes to mind. Neither would Mads Mikkelsen or Stellan Skarsgård. Yet, these international actors have emerged as IP reliables in recent years. Each of them has carved out a place for themselves in an industry not always welcoming towards outsiders — and refreshed the industry with their acting calibre, adaptability and a work ethic that would exhaust most of their peers. No matter how weak the writing may be or how awful the movie, they never phone it in. It’s why there is a comforting familiarity whenever they pop up on screen. Whether it is the latest blockbuster made for cinema, TV or streaming, you will more likely and more often see their faces in the posters and promos than those of the A-listers. For the IP itself is the star attraction these days. Star Wars, DC, Marvel and James Bond are the bankable names that lure viewers.

YEARS BEFORE he became TV’s most beleaguered babysitter, Pascal struggled to get cast in roles bigger than the odd guest spot on the various Law & Order shows. Buffy fans revisiting the series now may recognise the Chilean-born American actor in the Season 4 premiere, where he played a UC Sunnydale freshman struggling to fit in like our vampire slayer, holding onto a copy of W Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage as a security blanket. It was another bit part as the character lasts the duration of the episode, slayed after being turned into a vampire.

Pascal’s big break came in the fourth season of Game of Thrones as the Dornish prince and ace duellist Oberyn Martell. Next came Narcos. As the DEA agent trying to take down Pablo Escobar, Pascal’s deceptively layered performance matched Wagner Moura’s and brought a moral complexity that suited the show’s cut-throat world. It sure pushed his name up the Hollywood roll call. The big screen came a-calling as Patty Jenkins cast him as Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984. For a morally bankrupt businessman armed with a marketable smile, he is as deranged as comic-book villains come. In a scenery-chewing performance, Pascal still finds the sadness of a father so desperate to show off his success and give his son a life of abundance that he has forgotten his son is all the success and abundance he needs.

Playing father figures is how Pedro Pascal has become a household name. Between The Mandalorian and The Last of Us, he has had his hands full as reluctant dads forced by circumstances into transporting children to safety. Before he held down two of TV’s most beloved shows, he got a dress rehearsal, filling in as dad to Sophie Thatcher in the hostile landscape of the 2018 indie sci-fi film Prospect.

The performance requirements in The Mandalorian are an oddity. If having his face hidden behind a helmet doesn’t make his job as an actor hard enough, he must also sync his voice with the body language of his doubles. But he still manages to locate the elemental tensions of his character. His voice sells the intimidation and composure of a bounty hunter ready to do whatever it takes to keep his charge alive. The endearing bond between Mando and Grogu, which is the crux of the show, evolves over gestures like allowing the force-sensitive child to play with the spaceship’s shiny, round, detachable knobs.

THE LAST OF US reunited Pascal with fellow Game of Thrones alum Bella Ramsey. What keeps us watching here as well is the evolving bond between his gruff smuggler Joel and her spunky teenager Ellie, two broken people who come together to “endure and survive” in a broken world. The death of his own daughter and the undead apocalypse have hardened Joel but Ellie’s charms find a way to penetrate his protective shell. With each heart-breaking episode, he learns to love and hope again, little by little. This ability to act alongside animatronic puppets and flesh-and-blood kids, his keen awareness of when to rein it in vs when to lose inhibitions, and his ability to play everyman, antihero and villain — are what make Pascal such a valuable asset to filmmakers and showrunners.

Like Pascal, the Mexican actor Diego Luna has been slowly building his portfolio since the ‘90s but has started to register higher on the public radar in this golden age of streaming. The similarities between the two don’t end there. Luna too went from support act to taking the centre-stage first in a Narcos offshoot and then in a Star Wars offshoot. As an ex-cop who seizes upon the opportunity to become a cartel lieutenant in Narcos: Mexico, Luna traces a moral devolution by subverting expectations, using the inherent gentleness of his face to hide the cold-bloodedness of a kingpin always thinking two steps ahead. A character study unfolds as a revolution takes hold in Andor, where we see Luna play a rawer, greener version of the person we meet in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Cassian is a man mostly in it for himself and always looking for an exit — until he comes to realise the vital role he could play in the rebellion against the Empire.

FRANCHISE COMMITMENTS don’t stop these actors from devoting time to collaborate with more prominent directors. Luna, who first made an impression in Alfonso Cuarón’s Y tu mamá también, went on to work with Steven Spielberg (The Terminal), Harmony Korine (Mister Lonely) and Gus Van Sant (Milk). Mads Mikkelsen began his career with a supporting role in Nicolas Winding Refn’s debut Pusher before going on to work with other Danish compatriots like Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt, Another Round), Susanne Bier (Open Hearts, After the Wedding), Lone Scherfig (Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself), Anders Thomas Jensen (Men & Chicken, Riders of Justice) and Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair). Meanwhile, he has also racked up screen credits in different franchises.

Standing at 6 feet, Mikkelsen has used his stature to set himself apart. This and his Scandinavian origins, for Hollywood, became shorthand for villainy. Whether he is torturing a naked James Bond, squaring off against magicians like Doctor Strange and Dumbledore, turning people into haute cuisine or embezzling Rihanna, Mikkelsen always brings a playfulness and mystery to each role he plays. The connective tissue is how he enhances his physicality — the slight curl of his lip, the non-existent eyebrows and the sharply chiselled features — to embody different shades of evil. The next franchise character he is set to play — a Nazi in the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — could very well be a culmination of the bad guys he has played so far. Only Star Wars cast him against type so to speak as Galen Erso, the remorseful designer behind the Death Star, in Rogue One.

MIKKELSEN’s Scandinavian contemporary Stellan Skarsgård too has been attached to every Hollywood franchise from Star Wars to The Avengers. If Skarsgård remains one of the busiest actors in and outside of Hollywood, it’s because he looks equally at home wherever you put him. Most recently in Andor, he brought gravitas to the role of Luthen Rael, an antiques dealer and undercover rebel keen to recruit Cassian in the resistance efforts. His prosthetic-driven transformation into Baron Vladimir Harkonnen was one of the more terrifying sights in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, as he towers over everyone in an attempt to intimidate.

In truth, no actor has been a more prolific presence in franchises than Samuel L Jackson. Jurassic Park, Die Hard, Star Wars, Marvel, Unbreakable, The Kingsman — he has been in most everything. His incredible resume is a testament to his belief in his craft, his versatility and his lasting global popularity. The careers of Jackson and all the aforementioned actors echo Stanislavsky’s motto of there being “no small parts, only small actors”. Their longevity in the industry affirms an enduring desire to test the breadth of their abilities, draw from the depth of feeling, and keep surprising audiences the world over.