Percy Jackson and the Olympians has welcomed actors Lance Reddick and Toby Stephens to its cast as the Greek gods Zeus and Poseidon, respectively.
"We heard your calls all the way from Olympus," read the official casting announcement, which was shared on the upcoming Disney+ series' official Twitter account. A first look image of Reddick, Stephens and series lead Walker Scobell was also released, with each actor in costume as their respective character. This allowed fans to immediately point out how faithful the characters were all dressed compared to their novel counterparts
Reddick and Stephens' casting means that the Percy Jackson series has only five members of the Greek Olympians -- Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis and Apollo -- left to be cast. However, Percy Jackson creator Rick Riordan has previously stated that not all the gods will appear in Season 1, meaning that fans might have to wait until Season 2 or later to see who will be bringing the remaining Olympians to life on the small screen.
Percy Jackson Author Praises Ares Actor
The five major deities that have previously been confirmed to appear in Percy Jackson Season 1 are Hades, Hephaestus, Hermes, Dionysus (a.k.a. Mr. D) and Ares, with Jay Duplass, Timothy Omundson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jason Mantzoukas and Adam "Edge" Copeland cast as the Greek gods, respectively. Copeland in particular has already received praise from Riordan for his performance as the god of war, with the author recently stating that Copeland has filmed "some great scenes" as Ares. He continued, "As they used to say on the monster truck rally commercials of my youth: 'You can pay for the whole seat, but you'll only need the Edge!'"
The first season of Percy Jackson will consist of eight episodes and adapt the first novel in Rick Riordan's Camp Half-Blood Chronicles franchise, The Lightning Thief. First released in 2005, The Lightning Thief follows 12-year-old demigod Percy Jackson as he is accused by the Greek god Zeus of stealing his lightning bolt. To quell tensions among the Big Three -- Zeus, Poseidon and Hades -- Percy, Annabeth Chase (Leah Jeffries) and Grover (Aryan Simhadri) embark on a cross-country quest to track down the lost lightning bolt and restore order to Mount Olympus.
The rest of Percy Jackson's ensemble cast includes Dior Goodjohn, Glynn Turman, Virginia Kull, Megan Mullally, Timm Sharp, Suzanne Cryer and Jessica Parker Kennedy.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians premieres on Disney+ in early 2024.
Source: Twitter