Walker Scobell.Photo: Michael Loccisano/WireImage
Say hello to the new Percy Jackson!
A little over two months after it was announced that anewPercy Jackson and the Olympiansseries was comingtoDisney+, author Rick Riordan revealed Walker Scobell has been cast in the titular role.
Riordanmade the announcement on his websiteMonday, noting that he’s been impressed with the 13-year-oldThe Adam Projectactor ever since he first auditioned for the role of Percy Jackson.
“Walker Scobell is an incredibly talented young man who blew us away with his audition tapes for the role of Percy,” Riordan wrote. “Many of you recently discovered how great Walker is when you watched his movieThe Adam Project, in which Walker lit up the screen as a younger version ofRyan 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,” he continued. “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.”
In the announcement, Riordan said he’s known about the casting news since Jan. 28, when he got to tell Scobell that he had landed the role via Zoom. Riordan referred to the call as “a magical moment that made me feel for the first time: ‘Okay, this is real. This is worth all the waiting and the hard work. This project is going to be amazing.’ "
“Since then, 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!” Riordan shared.
Concluding his note, the author called Scobell “a rising star” and “a super-fan of the books … who knows his stuff.”
“It has been tough keeping this information under my hat because I was so excited to share the news with the fans!” he wrote. “I will definitely be there cheering him on every step of the way!”
RELATED VIDEO: See the Action-Packed Trailer forPercy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
Riordan first revealed that an adaptation of his belovedPercy Jacksonbook serieshad been greenlit for a television showat Disney+ in January.
Riordan is set to write the series pilot alongside Jon Steinberg, who is best known for producing Starz’sBlack Sails, Disney+ previously announced ina press release. Riordan, Steinberg and his producing partner Dan Shotz will serve as three of the executive producers on the project.
Riordan also shared that James Bobin will be directing the pilot episode. Bobin previously directed 2011’sThe Muppetsand the 2019 live-action film,Dora and the Lost City of Gold.
ThePercy Jackson & the Olympiansseries consists of five novels that Riordan wrote from 2005 through 2009. Two of those books were later adapted for the big screen —Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thiefin 2010 andPercy Jackson: Sea of Monstersin 2013.
In addition to the movies, the books were also turned into aBroadwaymusical,The Lightning Thief, which closed its curtains in January 2020.
source: people.com
