Percy Jackson Reboot Adds John Wick Star
Disney's Percy Jackson adaptation has added John Wick star Lance Reddick to the cast in the role of Zeus.
When The Hunger Games starring Jennifer Lawrence hit theaters in 2012, it spurred a trend of movies and television shows adapting young adult adventure books to the screen. While some of the films were critically acclaimed, many of them turned out to be, well, pretty cheesy. Now, a decade later and Hollywood is attempting to bring back the once-shining genre of young adult adventure flicks, and Disney+ is leading the charge with a reboot of the Percy Jackson series, which is now starring Lance Reddick from John Wick, per Variety.
The Percy Jackson reboot has been announcing new casting decisions over the past several months, and Lance Reddick is the latest to be revealed, along with Toby Stephens. Reddick is best known for playing the hotel manager Charron in the Chad Stahelski and David Leitch action thriller John Wick. The actor is also recognized for starring in the HBO crime drama series The Wire as Lt. Cedric Daniels.
In the Percy Jackson reboot, Lance Reddick will be playing Zeus, king of the Gods of Olympus. Before signing on to the Disney+ show, Reddick had most often been seen in action movies, crime thrillers, and horror films, or else heard as a voice actor in first-person shooter video games. His most recent credits include the 2022 Resident Evil Netflix series, so the Disney+ teen fantasy is a noticeable divergence from the actor’s typical work.
The Percy Jackson reboot with Lance Reddick is based on the Rick Riordan book series of the same name. The first book, The Lightning Thief, follows 12-year-old Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, as he comes to terms with being a demi-god with powerful abilities. When Zeus accuses the child of stealing his lightning bolt, Percy must go on an adventure with his two friends, Grover and Annabeth, in order to retrieve the bolt for the God-king.
The Disney+ reboot will be the second adaptation of the young adult book series and will likely be released in 2024, 14 years after the original film. Disney+’s Percy Jackson reboot, guest-starring Lance Reddick, is expected to be more faithful to the books than its 2010 counterpart, hopefully meaning that the reboot will also be more enjoyable for audiences. The original movie did not perform well with audiences or critics and received a 49 percent on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomato Meter.
Most of the events in Percy Jackson take place on Mount Olympus, which resides on the mythical 600th floor of the Empire State Building and is where many of the well-known Greek gods live, including Lance Reddick’s Zeus. Walker Scobell plays the titular character, Percy Jackson, and Aryan Simhadri and Leah Jeffries play his two friends, Grover and Annabeth. Toby Stephens plays Percy’s father, Poseidon, an absent father whose defining personality qualities like stubbornness and loyalty incarnate in Percy’s character.
Additional actors on the Percy Jackson set joining Lance Reddick in the cast include Virginia Kull as Percy’s mom, Glynn Turman as Chiron, the son of Kronos, Jason Mantzoukas as the god Dionysus, and Megan Mullally as Alecto.
