# 'It Wasn't For Me' — Matthew McConaughey Explains Why He Turned Down Playing Joel in HBO's The Last of Us Show

> Matthew McConaughey opened up about being approached to star as Joel Miller in HBO’s The Last of Us series and revealed why he had to turn the opportunity down.

- **Source:** [Ign](https://www.ign.com/articles/matthew-mcconaughey-explains-why-he-turned-down-playing-joel-in-hbos-the-last-of-us-show?utm_source=gearopen.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=feed&utm_content=6a7e34e71633e1fbfe89db09)
- **Published:** 2026-08-13
- **Category:** Gaming
- **Tags:** #last #mcconaughey #joel #matthew #show #wasn #being #explains
- **Canonical:** http://localhost:4321/a/6a7e34e71633e1fbfe89db09

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_GearOpen's distilled summary. The full original article is published at Ign (source link above); GearOpen does not republish the source's full text._