Jack Black Pitches Pedro Pascal as Wario for the Super Mario Bros. Sequel

Movies

Whenever two things are popular simultaneously, studios and fans alike often imagine combining these popular things to make something new, the hypnosis of current think fueling them. Jack Black has fallen into this trend following the massive success of HBO’s The Last of Us and Universal’s Super Mario Bros. by pitching Pedro Pascal as Wario in any potential sequels. In an interview with GameSpot, Black said:

“It’s not a given that Bowser will return. You know, I did a few Kung Fu Panda movies, and it was a different villain every movie. They may do the same thing. You know, what if there is a more powerful, more evil villain? Then I may need to be turned to help Mario and the rest to defend our universe against some other unseen force of evil. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Wario. Pedro Pascal is Wario.”

“Oh, this guy’s popular right now, and he’s in a popular show, so of course, he’s perfect for this other popular thing.” This mentality is often a short-sighted one that fails to take into account things like talent, comparable roles, and basic reasoning. Just because Pedro is in the public zeitgeist currently does not make him a good fit for Wario. In fact, Pedro has displayed no performance that even qualifies him to be in the conversation for this role. Nothing he’s ever done can be provided as logical evidence to support the casting. There was no basis of logic behind Black’s statement, as it was nothing more than a fan-casting, which can still be respected. Black is a fan of what Pedro has done, specifically with The Last of Us and The Mandalorian, so he’d like to see his favorite toys playing together. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with that. However, there’s no reason to justify it as a possibility or to believe it might occur.