Pedro Pascal On The “Really Intimidating” Process Of Embodying Reed Richards In ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’

Pedro Pascal is no stranger to stepping into genre entertainment and franchise-spanning worlds, but he admitted his latest foray — the forthcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps — was “really intimidating.”

The latest MCU entry, due in theaters July 25 and helmed by three-time Emmy nominee Matt Shakman, marks the fourth attempt to translate the original comic book characters to the silver screen. This time, the action will take place in an alternate history/parallel universe set in the ’60s, offering a retrofuturistic environment for stars Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Pascal.

“It was really intimidating,” Pascal told Entertainment Weekly of being cast as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, the de-facto leader of the familial superhero clan.

The experience, he told the publication for its themed cover story, brought to mind previous large-scale roles: “I relied on the people that I was around to hold me to the experience and help get me through it. Stepping into something like Game of Thrones and then going into the early days of Netflix with Narcos and then Star Wars and the world of video games with The Last of Us, each time I’ve felt like I couldn’t top how intimidating the last one was. They’re all scary because you really want to make people happy, especially if it’s something that’s widely known with particular expectations around it because you want those expectations to be met. You also want to be authentic to yourself so that it can be the best that it can be for anybody who wants to be entertained by a story and travel with us into this world.”

In the same sprawling feature, co-star Quinn — who portrays Johnny Storm — also discussed some of the differing aspects of the blockbuster from the well-known 2005 flick, which saw Chris Evans in the role. “He was branded as this womanizing, devil-may-care guy, but is that sexy these days? I don’t think so. This version of Johnny is less callous with other people’s feelings, and hopefully there’s a self-awareness about what’s driving that attention-seeking behavior,” he told EW, adding that the modernized characterization came from discussions with MCU boss Kevin Feige.

The cast for First Steps is rounded out by Julia Garner, John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser and Ralph Ineson.