Disney is going full swing with the new Percy Jackson live-action series. After the failure of the movies, the production company is determined to make things right. Author Rick Riordan has been roped in and has officially been made part of the production team, allowing him to leave an imprint on the casting and story. For the leads, they have mostly cast fresh faces while for other roles, they have recruited more experienced actors. It promises to be an amazing ride for those who are fans of the books.
Now, they have also found their Zeus and Poseidon. Lance Reddick, famous for his roles in The Wire and John Wick will be playing Zeus. Toby Stephens will guest star as Poseidon. He has been seen in the second season of Amazon’s Alex Rider, Netflix’s Lost in Space, and Starz’s historical drama Black Sails.
Percy Jackson gets its Zeus and Poseidon
The sea deity Poseidon is also Percy’s father. According to his official character description, “Many of Poseidon’s attributes live in Percy; tenacity, impulsiveness, and loyalty, even though they seem to be missing from his life. Although he has avoided Percy all of his life, it is clear that he cares deeply for him and Percy’s mother, Sally.”
The all-powerful god of the sky and king of Mount Olympus, Zeus is described as “tempestuous and untrustworthy.” If his stolen thunderbolt is not found, he has vowed to start a war.
According to the logline, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which is based on the same-named book series by Rick Riordan, follows the titular 12-year-old demi-god as he is “just getting to know with his unexpected supernatural abilities when the sky god Zeus charges him of taking his master lightning bolt.” Percy must set off on a once-in-a-lifetime expedition with the aid of his friends Grover and Annabeth to find the master bolt and put Olympus back in order.
Reddick and Stephens have officially joined the ensemble, which also features four other Gods of Olympus: Hades (Jay Duplass), Hermes (Lin-Manuel Miranda), Hephaestus (Timothy Omundson), and Dionysus (Jason Mantzoukas). The three youthful leads are Walker Scolbell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri. They will play Percy, Annabeth, and Grover respectively.
Rick Riordan has clarified that there will be no more new casting
Rick Riordan has clarified that there will be no further recruitment in his blog. He offered supporters a production update and applauded the casting decisions. Hence, fans will have to wait for another season to see a faithful adaptations of Aphrodite and Artemis.
In Vancouver, filming is gradually coming to an end, and months of post-production are anticipated to follow. Could the series debut before the year is out? Let’s keep hoping because no official release date has been made public but what we know is that it will be available on Disney+ in 2023.
(Source: Variety)
