There’s a new demigod on the scene. Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians has found its star: Walker Scobell, from Netflix’s The Adam Project (above), will take on the title role.
Rick Riordan, the author of the Percy Jackson books (and executive producer on the adaptation), announced Scobell’s casting on his website, writing, “The excitement is so thick you could cut it with a Celestial bronze sword.”
Riordan announced in January that the show would “really, truly” be coming to Disney+. James Bobin (The Mysterious Benedict Society) is set to direct the pilot, which was written by Riordan and Jon Steinberg (Black Sails). Steinberg and Dan Shotz are overseeing the series.
At the start of the Percy Jackson books, Percy is a 12-year-old boy who has no idea he’s a demigod, the son of Poseidon. And he’s certainly not the only demigod out there—along with a whole lot of creatures from mythology (not least the satyr and daughter of Athena who are his friends).
Riordan hinted that it might not be long before we find out who will play Annabeth and Grover, Percy’s friends. The author wrote, “We’ve gotten to see Walker do numerous chemistry reads with candidates for our other two leads, Annabeth and Grover, and while I’m confident those two roles are getting very close to being finalized and announced, I felt like the time was right to let you meet our Percy!”
No release date has been announced, but Percy Jackson and the Olympians is scheduled to start production this summer.
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