The Last Of Us' Pedro Pascal explains why he wants Prince's Purple Rain to play at his funeral: "I was raised by HBO, Spielberg and Prince"

(Image credit: Getty)

If you've been humouring pop culture references on any level over the past few weeks, chances are you'll already know that Pedro Pascal is becoming the most beloved actor in the game in 2023. With his emotionally compelling turn as Joel in HBO's horror game adaptation The Last Of Us already dominating our screens just as he makes his return as Din Djarin in Season 3 of Disney+ favourite The Mandalorian, Pascal is popping up in as many memes as he is interviews right now.

One such interview took place on the latest season of chat show-come-hot wings challenge series, Hot Ones. In last night's episode (broadcast Thursday March 9 on Youtube), Pascal spoke about his lifelong love of Prince, revealing that he'd like none other than Purple Rain to be played at his own funeral.

"It's my favourite song," the Chilean-American actor tells Hot Ones host Sean Evans. "It's the most moving song. I don't know why it always emerges, even before I actively started implementing it into my spiritual routine, essentially. I didn't go to church; I was raised by HBO, Spielberg and Prince, and for me, Purple Rain is the most emotionally cathartic, the most musically sophisticated song that I can think of. If it's casually or spontaneously playing somewhere...I don't have the emotional space to go there, because it just moves me so deeply."

Watch the full Hot Ones interview below.

The season finale of The Last Of Us airs Sunday night on HBO in the States and the following day on Sky Atlantic in the UK. The latest season of The Mandalorian is streaming now on Disney+.

The Last Of Us is also available to stream through NOW TV in the UK.

Merlin moved into his role as Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has previously written for the likes of Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.