Pedro Pascal's Three Emmy Nominations Pit Him Against The Succession Boys, The Bear Cast, And A Former POTUS

This year's Emmy race is set to include a whole lot of familiar faces, but there's one that's new to the crowd despite having been a mainstay in TV lovers' lives for years: Pedro Pascal just earned his first-ever Emmy nomination ... and his second and third. The actor, who somehow never got a nod for playing Oberyn Martell in "Game of Thrones" or that goth kid on "NYPD Blue," is now in the running for three different races, with noms in the race for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy, and Outstanding Narrator.

It's that last category that features one of Pascal's lesser-known performances, as the star lent his voice to the CNN docuseries "Patagonia: Life on the Edge of The World." The Chilean-American actor provided voiceover narration for the six-episode look at a region of South America that remains largely untouched by industrialization. Documentarians spotlight Indigenous peoples who survive in the harsh climate as well as local flora and fauna; the episode submitted for Emmy consideration is focused on the Andes mountains. Pascal has some stiff competition in the category, though: last year's winner was none other than former President Barack Obama, who narrated "Our Great National Parks" for Netflix. The ex-POTUS is nominated again this year for another Netflix docuseries, "Working: What We Do All Day."

The rest of the category includes some voiceover heavyweights and fellow famed actors like Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, and Mahershala Ali. Pedro Pascal's competition in his other categories is equally stacked: his turn as emotionally scarred apocalypse survivor Joel Miller in "The Last of Us" is fantastic, but he's also facing off against four great actors (Kieran Culkin, Jeremy Strong, Brian Cox, and Bob Odenkirk) delivering tremendous work during the last season of their respective shows, plus industry vet Jeff Bridges ("The Old Man").

This seems like a year that could easily result in a split vote as "Succession"-loving viewers pick their Roy family representative and anyone who's not head over heels for that show flocks to either Bridges or Pascal. Regardless of what happens, though, Pascal's nomination is a well-deserved landmark in his ever-growing career. It's also a historic moment, as Pascal is the first Latino actor nominated in this category since 1999, and one of only a small handful of Latino actors to ever be given the distinction.

Finally, Pedro Pascal earned a nod for his hilarious turn as host of "Saturday Night Live," proof once and for all that the show is funnier when it cracks the guest stars up, too. If you haven't caught his appearance on the show yet, it's certainly worth seeking out, as his attempts not to giggle while playing a guy who woke up from a coma with a weird accent or a man out to dinner with Lisa from Temecula (Ego Nwodim) are funnier than anything the show has done in a long time.

In this category, Pascal will face off against Sam Richardson ("Ted Lasso"), Luke Kirby ("The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"), and Nathan Lane ("Only Murders in the Building"), but his strongest competition might come from Emmys newcomer "The Bear." Uncle Cicero actor Oliver Platt is nominated for the series, as is Jon Bernthal, whose character Mikey is at the emotional heart of the show.

Award shows are, as always, an imperfect and biased system, but whether Pascal takes home three trophies come September or goes home with just the gift bag, he's very clearly one of the most talented and charismatic actors working in TV today. If you want to check out his nominated work, "The Last of Us" season 1 is available on Max, while his episode of "SNL" is on Peacock. "Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World" is currently available via Sling.