Filming has kicked off on the highly-anticipated Percy Jackson and the Olympians Disney+ series. As filming commences on the project, new casting announcements have arrived, thanks to author and series showrunner, Rick Riordan.
Jason Mantzoukas (Big Mouth), Megan Mullally (Will & Grace), Virginia Kull (The Big Bend), Glynn Turman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), and Timm Sharp (Blunt Talk), have joined the series in significant roles. The actors join the previously announced stars Walker Scobell, Aryan Simhadri, and Leah Sava Jeffries.
The live-action show tells the fantastical tale of the titular 12-year-old modern demigod (Scobell), who’s just coming to terms with his newfound supernatural powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover and Annabeth, Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus. Grover is a satyr, half boy and half goat, disguised as a 12-year-old boy, and is the best friend of Percy. Annabeth is the true daughter of the Greek goddess, Athena.
Mantozoukas will play Mr. D / Dionysus, everyone’s favorite grumpy wine god and head of the camp, Mullally plays Mrs. Dodds / Alecto, Virginia Kull plays Percy’s mother Sally Jackson, Glynn Turman plays Chiron, the immortal centaur, and trainer of heroes at Camp Half-Blood, and Sharp will play Gabe Ugliano, Percy’s stepdad.
Riordan wrote the project alongside Jon Steinberg (Black Sails). Steinberg and his producing partner Dan Shotz will oversee the series. James Bobin (Disney+’s The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Muppets) is directing the first episode.
If renewed for more seasons the series will then tackle each new book for every season.
A premiere date for Percy Jackson and the Olympians hasn’t been set, nor has any casting been announced. Riordan, Steinberg, Shotz, and Bobin will serve as executive producers along with Rebecca Riordan, Bert Salke, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jim Rowe, and Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, and D.J. Goldberg.
