“I appreciate the heads up”: are audiences going to fall out of love with Walton Goggins?
If one were to rewind around two years in time, it would appear that Pedro Pascal could do no wrong.
A bona fide megastar courtesy of fan-favourite roles on Game of Thrones, The Mandalorian, and The Last of Us, popular culture’s go-to adoptive father figure, unfortunately, found himself to be a victim of his own success. The actor’s frequent appearances in a slew of high-profile film and television offerings resulted in a sudden backlash from a new wave of fans, with his casting in Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot apparently serving as the final straw.
Seemingly overnight, fans began ruthlessly deriding the Chilean-American for what they viewed as an incessant over-saturation of Pascal-centric media. Despite a reputation as one of Hollywood’s nicest guys behind the scenes, the actor even found himself suddenly being mocked online for his tendency to seek physical contact during episodes of public anxiety. The internet became littered with endless memes, making sinister allusions to the motivations behind his need for human contact.
According to the man informally known as “Mr Steal Your Girl” himself, Pete Davidson believes that this celebrity phenomenon already has its next poster boy lined up. The SNL alum has earmarked The White Lotus and Fallout star, Walton Goggins, as the next actor to find themselves as a victim of what he has creatively dubbed as “go the fuck away, dude” mentality. However, as is typically the case with Davidson’s eccentric outbursts, whether he’s actually on to something is another matter entirely.
Make no mistake, there are undoubtedly parallels between Pascal and Goggins’ respective rises. They’re both extremely gifted character actors, men who initially found stratospheric success through their roles on television shows. However, they’re far from carbon copies of each other. Gradually morphing into a leading man, Pascal grew with his career, taking on bigger roles and blockbusters as his profile increased. By contrast, Goggins is traditionally typecast as a supporting face and is more of a late bloomer. The Shield star was already a well-regarded, if somewhat obscure, actor in film and television by the time his recent standout roles thrust him into the modern mainstream.
Furthermore, unlike Pascal, Goggins has yet to actually parlay this success into an array of high-profile movie castings. Moreover, he hasn’t even displayed much of an intention to do so in the future. It would be one thing if the actor had been announced as a high-profile addition to the MCU or another blockbuster franchise of its ilk, but Goggins hasn’t even been the leading man in his last three feature films. That’s hardly the indicator of a man being forced down the general population’s throats to such a degree that they’re primed to turn on him with pitchforks.
True to form, the unflappable Goggins has been typically laconic in his response to Davidson’s stinging comments. In addition to thanking the comedian for the “heads up” on his musings and singing Pascal’s praises, Goggins has been candid about his awareness that “every experience has a shelf life”. He’s also spoken of what “a blessing” finding any success in his field represents and how much it means to him. The intensely charismatic American possesses a uniquely grounded air of self-awareness off-screen, just another reason why fans and critics have gravitated towards him in recent years.
On paper, the Alabama native would appear to be safe from a Pascal-esque fate as of this time of writing. With that being said, if the mob suddenly comes for one of the most humble and likeable faces plying their trade in Hollywood, what hope does anyone really have of avoiding them forever?
