Pedro Pascal relates to the protectiveness of his character in 'The Last of Us'.

The 50-year-old star admits that he sees parallels with his alter ego Joel from the HBO drama as both are "fiercely protective" of those they care about.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the release of the second season later this month, Pedro said: "I'm pretty fiercely protective. I'm protective of the people that I love. And I think that's probably the main component that I relate to."

Pedro's character Joel is the strong-willed father figure to Ellie (Bella Ramsey) in the post-apocalyptic series - which is based on the video game franchise of the same name - and 'The Mandalorian' actor admits that the role does take a toll mentally.

He said: "It's this experience, more than any I've had. It's hard for me to separate what the character are going through and how it makes me feel.

"In a way that isn't very healthy. And so, I kind of feel their pain I suppose, so I suppose I was in an unhealthy mindset."

'The Last of Us' was praised by critics when the first season aired in 2023 and Pascal is delighted that the show is returning to screens.

He said: "I think there's something that is really exciting about basically giving everyone another season of a show that everyone loved and that everyone has worked so hard on and has put so much into."

Pedro admits that it was a "cathartic" to be involved in a project set amid the apocalypse and related it to the turmoil that can be felt in the real world.

He explained: "I think that storytelling is cathartic in so many ways, always has been.

"It's the way that the human beings have made testimony to life. Whether it was, you know, handprints on the walls inside of a cave to, you know, a television show that you can stream on Max starting April 13th."

The 'Gladiator II' actor continued: "For me, you know, growing up, I have always - and it's all my development is based on, you know - books I've read, movies I've seen, and television that I've watched. And so, it's very much going to reflect the human experience.

"Under such extreme circumstances, I think that's a very kind of, like, healthy and sometimes sick pleasure in that kind of catharsis, in a safe space to see human relationships under crisis and in pain and intelligently draw political allegory, societal allegory, and based off the world that we're living in, and very beautifully and intelligently."