06 March 2023 , 16:51
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Pedro Pascal once appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer - and we all have Sarah Michelle Gellar to thank for bringing it to our attention.
He may be one of the biggest names in Hollywood right now, starring in two of the most-watched shows on the planet, The Last of Us and Disney's Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian.
However, when the Game of Thrones star was just a jobbing actor he appeared in a single installment of Buffy over two decades ago.
"When #Mother met #Father," wrote Sarah, who played the titular demon hunter, in a throwback snap of the pair from the Season 4 premiere episode 'The Freshman' in 1999.
Pascal, who was actually credited as Pedro Balmaceda at the time (more on that later), starred as Eddie, a new student at college who seemed like a potential love interest.
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Sarah Michelle Gellar posted this throwback snap with Pedro Pascal (TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX)
Pascal during the filming for the Graham Norton Show (PA)But he mysteriously vanished and all his possessions disappeared - with only a letter left claiming that he ran away because he couldn't stand the stress of college.
However, he had actually been kidnapped by an evil vampire and turned into one.
Buffy managed to track Eddie down, but her relief was cut shortly when she noticed he was then a vampire.
She told him she was sorry for what happened to him, but when Eddie replied "I'm not" and tried to attack her, she staked him and turned him to dust.
During a recent Access Hollywood interview, Pascal admitted he was stunned that Sarah remembered who he was.
"What I just found out – that I am very excited about, and I can't wait to get my phone back so that I can look it up myself – is that Sarah Michelle Gellar remembers me," he said.
"I want her to know that I remember every moment of shooting that episode, as brief as it was. She was such a kind scene partner, and we had the best time."
Sarah Michelle Gellar starred in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Publicity Picture)
She remembers working with PedroWhile looking at a snap from the 199 episode, he added: "This is Eddie, and the episode is 'The Freshman'. It's the Season 4 premiere. It was a super big deal."
While Sarah responded on her Instagram story after watching the interview, writing: "As if I could ever forget you. I adore you."
Pascal also reminisced about filming the episode with Entertainment Tonight, saying that he remembers sharing an ice cream with Sarah during the night shoot.
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"I remember she had ice cream in her trailer, and she gave me some," he explained.
"She went back to her trailer, she got me some ice cream and she shared -- 'cause it was a night shoot, it was in the middle of the night, and we were on the UCLA campus. They hadn't built their college sets yet."
He also discussed having to eat lunch while wearing his vampire mask and how Sarah taught him how to hit his mark, adding: "She was the best."
Pedro is the star of The Mandalorian (Photo by StillMoving.net for Disney)So why was Pascal credited as Pedro Balmaceda at the end of the episode?
The Chilean-born American actor was actually born José Pedro Balmaceda - and his family moved to the US after being forced to flee their homeland when he was nine-months-old.
Tragically, his mother took her own life in 1999 - and Pedro changed his last name from his father's, Balmaceda, to his mother's, Pascal.
Pedro credits his mum with finding fame, but sadly she never got to see his career take off.
"She was always incredibly supportive, never a stage mom. I always felt like she knew something that I didn't," he told People in 2020.
"None of [my success] would be real if it weren't for her."