Percy Jackson Series Casts More Of Its Olympians
The upcoming Percy Jackson series is really rounding into shape and now we are seeing how the rest of the cast is going to play out
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The Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians continues to round out its ranks, as several key character castings have just been announced. In a report from Deadline, Charlie Bushnell (Diary of a Future President) will play demigod Luke Castellan, son of Hermes and May Castellan and one of the series’ main antagonists. Dior Goodjohn (Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark?) will play the demigod Clarisse La Rue, the daughter of Ares, the Greek god of war. Walker Scobell (The Adam Project) will play Percy Jackson in the series, based on the phenomenally popular line of young adult books by Rick Riordan, who is also writing the series. The announcements were also made on the official Percy Jackson series Twitter account, along with pictures of each actor.
In addition, Olivea Morton (And Yet They Speak) will also appear in the series in a guest-starring role as Nancy Bobofit, a classmate at Percy’s school who is unaware of his powers and likes to pick on him. Among the previously-announced cast members are Aryan Simhadri (playing Grover Underwood) and Leah Sava Jeffries (playing Annabeth Chase). The series also stars Virginia Kull as Sally Jackson, Glynn Turman as Chiron, Jason Mantzoukas as Dionysus, Timm Sharp as Gabe Ugliano and Megan Mullally as Alecto.
Production on the new Percy Jackson series is already underway in Vancouver, where 20th Television is pulling out all the stops to make it Disney+’s new tentpole series. According to Disney, production began on June 2, as we previously reported. A premiere date has not been set, but it is expected to debut on the streaming service sometime in 2023. Season one will adapt the first book in the series, The Lightning Thief. Five seasons are planned, each adapting a book in the “Camp Half-Blood” series of Percy Jackson books.
The series will follow 12-year-old Percy, who discovers he is the demigod son of Poseidon, and blessed with divine powers. When he is accused by the Greek god Zeus of stealing his master lightning bolt, Percy and his new friends Grover and Annabeth must embark on a dangerous yet fantastic adventure to retrieve it and restore it to Mount Olympus, home of the gods. The Percy Jackson book series had been previously adapted into two films, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (2010) and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters in 2013. Logan Lerman played Percy in both those films, which many fans disliked because of the major changes made from the book, including the aging-up of the young characters.
The series endured some controversy earlier this year when Leah Jeffries was cast to play Annabeth Chase, who is described as a young white girl with blue eyes. Jeffries is African-American, and some fans took offense, accusing Disney of “race-switching” and not staying true to the character. Riordan, however, came to her defense, saying such criticism was based in racism. He said Jeffries was chosen because she best embodied the character’s personality. Actress Alexandra Daddario, who played Annabeth in the two Percy Jackson movies, also defended Jeffries, saying she will make an “incredible” Annabeth.
Stay tuned for more news about the upcoming Percy Jackson series which could end up being one of Disney’s biggest offerings.
