Percy Jackson Recast in Disney+ Show, Netflix Favorite to Star

By Daniel S. Levine

The upcoming Disney+ series based on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians books finally found its Percy Jackson. Walker Scobell, who starred in the hit Netflix movie The Adam Project, will lead the series, Riordan announced Monday. The poorly-received 2010 and 2013 movies featured Logan Lerman as Percy.

Scobell made his acting debut in The Adam Project as the younger version of Ryan Reynolds' Adam. He also stars in the upcoming movie Secret Headquarters starring Owen Wilson, Michael Pena, and Jesse Williams. He is a big fan of Riordan's novels, the author wrote. Scobell even wore a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt in a Zoom call with Riordan.

"Many of you recently discovered how great Walker is when you watched his movie The Adam Project, in which Walker lit up the screen as a younger version of Ryan Reynolds' character," Riordan wrote. "We were fortunate enough to audition Walker months before that movie came out, but the film only confirmed what we already knew about his talent. It was obvious to me and the rest of the team that Walker had the perfect mix of comedic timing, sweetness, rebelliousness, snark, and heroism to embody our hero Percy Jackson."

Scobell continued to impress the author and the rest of the production when he attended a chemistry reading in California in February. This meeting further convinced Riordan that Walker would be the perfect Percy Jackson. Scobell read with candidates for Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood, but these two major roles have not been cast yet. The series will be filmed in Vancouver.

The previous attempt to bring Percy Jackson to life began in 2010 when Chris Columbus directed Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. It was followed by Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters in 2013. Neither film was well-received, and fans of the novels were not happy with the changes to the stories. Riordan publicly criticized the movies, noting that Fox made the characters much older than he envisioned.

Riordan's experience with the Disney+ project is bound to be very different. He has been heavily involved, even taking part in Disney's series order announcement in January. Riordan co-wrote the pilot with Jon Steinberg (Black Sails) and serves as an executive producer. James Bobin (The Muppets, The Mysterious Benedict Society) will direct.

"With Rick Riordan, Jon Steinberg, and Dan Shotz leading our creative team, we're deep into creating a compelling TV series worthy of the heroic mythological characters that millions of Percy Jackson readers know are well-worth caring about," Disney Branded Television president Ayo Davis said in January. "We're eager to invite Disney+ audiences into stories that are true to the blockbuster franchise and full of anticipation, humor, surprise, and mystery."

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