Walker Scobell made his feature film debut earlier this year opposite Ryan Reynolds in Netflix’s The Adam Project. Now, the young actor is stepping into his own franchise. Via Variety, Disney+ has cast Scobell as Percy Jackson, the leading character in the upcoming Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
At 13 years old, Scobell is considerably younger than Logan Lerman, the actor who portrayed Percy Jackson in two previous live-action films. However, Scobell’s age is closer to Percy’s age in the first novel by Rick Riordan. As introduced in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Percy was a seemingly normal 12-year-old boy who struggled with dyslexia and ADHD. But Percy soon learned that he was a demi-god and the son of Poseidon after Zeus accused him of stealing his master lightning bolt. To prevent a war among the gods, Percy and his fellow demi-gods took it upon themselves to find the real thief.
Scobell is currently filming Secret Headquarters, which follows a kid who comes to suspect that his estranged father is a superhero after discovering a hidden lair in his home. Beyond that, Scobell doesn’t have anything else on the horizon beyond Percy Jackson. But this will probably be the beginning of a very promising career in Hollywood.
Unlike the Percy Jackson feature films, Riordan and his wife, Rebecca Riordan, will both be executive producers on the new Disney+ series. Rick Riordan is also co-writing the pilot episode with Jon Steinberg. The Muppets director James Bobin will helm the pilot episode, which will film this summer.
Disney+ hasn’t set a date for Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but a 2023 debut seems likely.
