Lin-Manuel Miranda Will Play A God In Disney+ Series
Lin-Manuel Miranda joins the cast of the upcoming Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians as the Greek God Hermes.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is joining the cast of the upcoming Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award winner will portray the Greek God Hermes, in a key guest-starring role. The character is described as someone who looks out for travelers and thieves while being a trickster.
He is also charismatic, boisterous and the life of the party. But his charm does not do much to heal his strained relationship with his son, Luke. Created for Disney+ by Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz, the series is based on Rick Riordan’s novel series of the same name.
The story follows 12-year-old demigod Percy Jackson, who is accused by the Greek god Zeus of stealing his lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover and Annabeth, Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus. Walker Scobell stars as the titular character, alongside Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Development on the series began in May 2020 after author Rick Riordan pitched the idea for a Percy Jackson series to the Walt Disney Company. Steinberg and Shotz were announced as showrunners a year later, with James Bobin hired to direct the first episode. By September 2022, Anders Engström and Jet Wilkinson were also tapped to direct multiple episodes of the series. It’s currently unclear how many episodes Lin-Manuel Miranda will appear in.
In addition to Percy Jackson and the Olympians series regulars Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri, Lin-Manuel Miranda joins an impressive ensemble of previously announced guest stars. This includes Megan Mullally, Virginia Kull, Glynn Turman, Jason Mantzoukas, Timm Sharp, Dior Goodjohn, Olivea Morton, Adam Copeland, Suzanne Cryer, and Jessica Parker Kennedy. Charlie Bushnell portrays Luke, the son of Hermes.
The series, which consists of eight episodes, is currently in filming in Vancouver and is expected to premiere on Disney+ in 2024, Deadline reports. Unfortunately, since the target audience for Percy Jackson and the Olympians is mostly Gen Z’ers, the star power of Lin-Manuel Miranda might be lost on them. In the realm of TikTok, the composer became somewhat of an infamous meme in 2020, when Insider reported a huge wave of jokes around a picture of the actor biting his lip which they found very cringe-worthy.
Meanwhile, Lin-Manuel Miranda became a household name following his performance in the 2015 musical, Hamilton. For his efforts as a writer and star, the 42-year-old won Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. He also won a Tony Award for In the Heights Original Score and Grammys for the cast albums of both shows. His other Broadway credits include Freestyle Love Supreme, Bring It On: The Musical, and the 2009 West Side Story revival.
The 42-year-old’s recent credits also include HBO’s His Dark Materials, Mary Poppins Returns, Tick, Tick… Boom!, Vivo, and the feature film version of In the Heights. Lin-Manuel Miranda will also serve as a producer on the upcoming musical fantasy film, The Little Mermaid. Directed by Rob Marshall from a screenplay by David Magee and Jane Goldman, the movie is set for release on May 26, 2023.
