Scobell has taken over from Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson!
A new Percy Jackson adaptation is upon us, and all of us who grew up with Logan Lerman as the face of the franchise are feeling very old!
Young actor Walker Scobell has taken over the keys to Camp Half-Blood in the new Disney Plus series Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Along with his co-stars, Leah Jeffries (Annabeth Chase) and Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood), Scobell has crushed it as Percy, with creatives on the show – including author Rick Riordan – praising his performance.
Here’s everything you need to know about the character and actor.
Who is Percy Jackson?
As first established in Riordan’s novel Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson is a demigod, or half-blood, and the son of the Greek god Poseidon.
The first novel and the series show his journey discovering that he’s not just a normal boy and grappling with his newfound powers.
He serves as the main character and narrator in the majority of the books. Scobell’s not the only actor to have played the character, with Logan Lerman previously starring as Percy in the film series.
Who is Percy Jackson actor Walker Scobell?
Despite being so young, Scobell isn’t a complete newcomer to the industry, and has already impressed audiences in movie The Adam Project, in which he played a young version of Ryan Reynolds’s character Adam.
Last year, he also appeared in the movie Secret Headquarters, and is now set to take on a huge TV part in the form of the new Percy Jackson adaptation.
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Scobell recently opened up to RadioTimes.com about his new role, saying that, while he hasn’t met Lerman in person just yet, the older actor has shared some messages and tips.
He added of his version of Percy: “We stayed as close to the books as possible while making it entertaining and adding characters, so I think the biggest difference between the book and the show is that it’s not from a specific point of view.”
Did Walker Scobell audition for Percy Jackson and the Olympians?
Yes! Riordan recently told RadioTimes.com about the “exhaustive” search to find the main trio.
He added: “It was thousands and thousands and thousands of audition tapes and so many talented young actors.
“But, you know, it was a question of finding the right voice, the right personality and the right energy, and also to find three excellent actors who worked well together.
“And that was a whole different challenge. So we had tapes, we discussed it with the production team. We had in person auditions.”
He added: “And then we had chemistry reads in person with the actors together. But I mean, these three, they rose to the top pretty decisively.”