Lin-Manuel Miranda is joining Disney Plus‘s upcoming Percy Jackson and the Olympians as the Greek god Hermes.
The Tony, Grammy and Emmy winner will star in the adaptation of Rick Riordan’s hit YA fantasy adventure series about Greek mythology, which follows 12-year-old Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell), who finds out that that he is the son of the Greek god Poseidon and begins training to become a hero at Camp Half Blood, a special training camp for demigods.
Disney announced the news on Twitter, and added the caption: “A message from the messenger god himself: @Lin_Manuel Miranda is Hermes in #PercyJackson and the Olympians, an Original series coming to #DisneyPlus!”
A message from the messenger god himself: @Lin_Manuel Miranda is Hermes in #PercyJackson and the Olympians, an Original series coming to #DisneyPlus! pic.twitter.com/ncXp0Rl8Un
— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) November 7, 2022
Aryan Simhadri (Cheaper by the Dozen) will play Grover Underwood and Leah Jeffries (Empire) will take on the role of Annabeth Chase.
The cast also includes Virginia Kull as Percy’s mum Sally, Glynn Turman as Chiron, Jason Mantzoukas as Dionysus, Megan Mullally as the Fury Alecto, Timm Sharp as Percy’s stepfather Gabe Ugliano, Dior Goodjohn as Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, and Charlie Bushnell as Luke, the son of Miranda’s Hermes.
Percy Jackson hasn’t been seen on screen since the 2013 sequel film starring Logan Lerman – Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. Riordan, who has been critical of the previous Percy Jackson film adaptations, is co-writing the pilot for this new series.
Disney Plus’s show description reads: “Geared towards a general audience and especially tweens, teens, and young adults, the live action series tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who’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 began in June this year.
Meanwhile, Miranda is reported to be providing the voice of Chef Louis in The Little Mermaid and has written music for the film, and will star in The Making Of with Richard Gere and Blake Lively.
Percy Jackson will premiere on Disney Plus. You can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now.
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