The Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, an adaptation of the popular Rick Riordan books, has cast two of Percy’s friends.
We found out in mid-April that The Adam Project’s Walker Scobell will be playing the titular Percy, a 12-year-old boy who finds out he’s the son of Poseidon and hence, a demigod. Riordan hinted at that time that the casting of Percy’s two friends—Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase—would be imminent.
Today, it turns out, is that imminent day; Disney+ announced that Aryan Simhadri (Spin) will play Grover and Leah Sava Jeffries (Empire) will take on the role of Annabeth.
Here’s a photo of the two with Scobell that the Disney+ Twitter account released with the news:
Heroes in the making. 🗡⚡️🐐 Meet Annabeth, Percy, and Grover from #PercyJackson and The Olympians, an Original series coming to #DisneyPlus. @PercySeries pic.twitter.com/HMjdYoxob3
— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) May 5, 2022
Simhadri’s character, Grover, is a satyr—half boy and half goat—who fronts as a 12-year-old boy. Grover, according to Disney+, cares deeply about others and is cautious in nature, though he will always fight to protect his friends.
Jeffries’ Annabeth is the daughter of Athena who has spent the last five years at Camp Half-Blood and barely remembers the mortal world. She helps Percy get used to life in the mythological realm while Percy in turn helps her reconnect with humanity.
Given these descriptions, it sounds like the series will hew closely to the books. That’s not surprising given Riordan, along with Jon Steinberg (Black Sails), wrote the pilot. Rounding out the television production team is James Bobin (The Mysterious Benedict Society), who is on board to direct. Steinberg is also overseeing the series along with his producing partner Dan Shotz.
No news yet on when the series will make its way to the Disney streaming platform, though we do know that filming will start soon in Vancouver.
