Pedro Pascal has become a hugely popular star in recent years. After his memorable, but short-lived, role on Game of Thrones in 2014, Hollywood took notice of his talent, and he started to become more of a household name with a large following online.
He’s since been part of several major franchises, ranging from Kingsman to The Equalizer and the DC Extended Universe earlier on post-breakout. But it’s been his leading roles in mᴀssive IP like The Mandalorian and The Last of Us that gave way to even more opportunities and some of Pascal’s best movies, like Gladiator II and The Wild Robot last year.
That’s been evident this year, especially. In addition to his return as Joel in The Last of Us season 2, Pascal’s incredible 2025 has seen him headline a few big movies, such as The Fantastic Four: First Steps for Marvel Studios and Celine Song’s Materialists and Ari Aster’s Eddington.
Through it all, Pascal has not lost touch with independent filmmakers. He’s made sure to lend his star power to a variety of smaller productions and pᴀssion projects for various creatives across many genres. One of his most recent is one of this year’s brightest hidden gems, and its now easier to watch than ever before.
Freaky Tales Is Now Streaming On Max After Limited Theatrical Run
After releasing in theaters across the country on April 4th, Freaky Tales is finally available to watch on HBO Max. Audiences can now immerse themselves in this stylish, neon-soaked adventure from the comfort of their own homes and experience one of this year’s funniest, most stylish projects so far.
The movie features a huge ensemble of recognizable faces around Pascal, including Ben Mendelsohn, as interwoven characters in a retro-inspired portrait of 1980s Oakland. Freaky Tales is loosely influenced by true stories from the era.
The anthology film is split into several different perspectives, all of which converge in the most unexpected of ways. These stories include a turf war between punk rockers and local gangsters, a redemption arc for a retired hitman, and an NBA all-star’s violent quest for revenge.
Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the movie has received positive reviews from critics, sitting at a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences have enjoyed it a lot more, as seen with its 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The reasons for this critical praise are multiple; not only does the film have an excellent cast who all turn in memorable performances, but the writing also feels incredibly confident and ambitious. Writing a single story is never easy, but writing four different stories that are all thematically linked within the same city is even harder.
It’s a testament to Boden & Fleck’s talent that Freaky Tales manages to work at all, as the project easily could have felt overstuffed and directionless given just how much is going on in the screenplay. Thankfully, the ending of Freaky Tales manages to tie everything together neatly and reward viewers for their engagement.
With its subtle details and hidden character references, Freaky Tales is also the kind of movie that heavily rewards multiple watches – which is much easier now the film has landed on HBO Max. Whether it’s characters appearing in the background of other stories, or visual references to other classic ‘80s movies, there’s so much fun to unpack with Freaky Tales.
After an extremely limited theatrical release, the new streaming home for Freaky Tales, will hopefully be where word-of-mouth can help it find the popularity it deserves.
