Disney+ has announced the recasting of Zeus in Percy Jackson and the Olympians one year after the tragic passing of Lance Reddick. Variety was first to report.
Courtney B. Vance, best known for his roles in The Preacher’s Wife and Lovecraft Country, Vance most recently starred in Hulu’s Grotesquerie as Marshall Tryon, a professor and the husband of Detective Lois Tryon (Neicy Nash). Percy fans have long been skeptical over a recasting given how integral Zeus is to the best-selling Percy Jackson novel series. However, creator Rick Riordan overseeing the project surely puts things at ease.
Courtney B. Vance Joins Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2
“I can’t tell you how excited I am to join the extraordinary cast of Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” Vance said in a statement on Monday. “There are few moments in an actor’s career when you can honestly say that you’re about to board a series that has such a devoted fan base filled with characters beloved around the world and is based on a wildly successful book series. I know that stepping into this role of Zeus will be a memorable experience and I’ll be giving my brother, Lance Reddick, who left us way too soon, a heavenly hug.”
[RELATED: Percy Jackson Confirms Season 2 Casting for One Major Character]
Season 1 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians follows the plot of The Lightning Thief (the first book in the series) and introduces fans to a 12-year-old demigod Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell) who feels like a loner and outcast who has been misunderstood his whole life. Midway through the season, Percy is accused by Zeus of stealing his Master Bolt so he — alongside Annabeth and Grover (Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri) — set out on a cross-country quest to retrieve it.
Season 2 will follow the next series book, Sea of Monsters. While Zeus doesn’t have a super prominent role in the book, his daughter Thalia will be introduced this season. She’s a centerpiece of the novel as Percy is thought to be the only living child amongst Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.
Per Disney+’s official logline, season 2 “returns to Camp Half-Blood one year later to find his world turned upside down. His friendship with Annabeth is changing, he learns he has a cyclops for a brother, Grover has gone missing and camp is under siege from the forces of Kronos. Percy’s journey to set things right will take him off the map and into the deadly Sea of Monsters, where a secret fate awaits the son of Poseidon.”
Season 1 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is now streaming on Disney+, and season 2 is expected to premiere in 2025.
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