After months of anticipation, Disney+ has officially cast The Adam Project's Walker Scobell to play the young demigod in its upcoming Percy Jackson series, an adaptation of Rick Riordan's book series.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Walker Scobell has landed the title role in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Disney+ gave a series order to Percy Jackson and the Olympians in January. The series follows a 12-year-old boy (Scobell) who learns he is a demigod. He’s just coming to terms with his newfound supernatural powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. Now, Percy must trek across America to find it and restore order to Olympus.
Production on the series from Disney’s 20th Television is set to begin in the summer. Rick Riordan, an executive producer of the series, announced the casting news Monday morning on his website writing, “Walker Scobell is an incredibly talented young man who blew us away with his audition tapes for the role of Percy. 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. 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.”
Riordan confirmed Percy Jackson was in development with Disney back in 2020, but it officially received the greenlight earlier this year. Disney+ also issued the official character breakdown for Percy which describes the character as, “Percy Jackson is a smart and compassionate kid with a sharp sense of humor. He's always seen himself as an outsider, in no small part because of how the world sees his ADHD and dyslexia. He's impulsive and rambunctious and is quick to anger when things seem unfair to him. But beneath his cynicism is an affectionate son and loyal friend who just wants to do right by those he cares about. If only he could find a place where he fits in.”
Riordan will write the series pilot with Jon Steinberg while James Bobin directs. Steinberg and his producing partner Dan Shotz are overseeing the series and serve as executive producers alongside Bobin, Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Bert Salke, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jim Rowe, and Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, and D.J. Goldberg. 20th Television is the studio. The Percy Jackson book series is comprised of The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian.
On the work front, Walker Scobell made his film debut in the recent Netflix film The Adam Project, starring opposite Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldaña, Jennifer Garner, and Catherine Keener. He’s set to star with Owen Wilson, Michael Peña and Jesse Williams in Paramount’s family action movie Secret Headquarters which is due out in theaters on August 5.
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