#walker scobell is an incredible actor

[tunnel-of-love-percabeth]

When he doesn't finish his sentence, it's not because he doesn't want to say "I'd rather stay with you." He's stopping because he's finally feeling the Chimera's poison. He senses something isn't right.

[indestinatus]

Leah and Walker: auditions

A Hero’s Journey: The Making Of Percy Jackson And The Olympians

+ bonus:

[stuff-diary]

Just watched the first two episodes of the Percy Jackson show and it's ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. It really is the adaptation I've always dreamed of. In fact, it's so good that I'm actually a bit overwhelmed by the emotions and the feels of it all. Gods, I can't wait to see what else is store.

[jooniez]

plssss 😭😭😭

[itsmyfandomandilikeit]

Btw we do all have to promise to not ship Walker and Leah. Like the very first thing we found out about Leah was that Rick said "we cast for Annabeth based first and foremost on onscreen chemistry with Walker Scobell" or however he said it and after this week I can absolutely see it.

Like up to this point I've liked her because she clearly did her research and understands the character and the story, but as of this episode, I understand why Leah Sava Jeffries was cast over every other young actress who has also read and analyzed the books and tried her level best. Because her relationship with the male lead is so important to the lifeblood of this story that is going to last years and years. And they had to cast the person who had the best onscreen chemistry with Walker Scobell.

But these are actors. It is not real. We see interviews with them and there are shades of their characters in their interactions but this is either coincidence or played up so people will talk about it online or both. In real life this is their job. They have other friends and their own families and maybe even people they like who aren't famous. It is none of our business.

And, if five years from now they do actually decide to date, because it's happened to others and sure it's a possibility, I don't want to know. I don't want anybody to know and I don't want anybody to care. Hot damn the casting for this television adaptation was incredible but that is all that it is. There are real people involved who go home at the end of the day.

[shippingdragons]

Toby Stephens as Poseidon in Percy Jackson

“When I read the scripts I thought, ‘This is really nice.’ It’s something that will be fun to do, and it’s obviously a huge privilege to be part of such a much-loved franchise that means so much to so many people.” Source

"I really liked working with Virginia, and she's a really great actress. We found that very quickly. The scene just had a very intimate feel." Source

"It's a domestic scene between a mother and father, and at the heart of it there's this pain. It's a yearning between two people to be connected who can't be." Source

About Lance Reddick: “It was so strange because we instantly connected just as actors and as people. I really liked him. I genuinely connected with him.” Source

Photo by Dan Shotz

Photo by Walker Scobell

Virgina Kull about working with Toby: “Toby Stephens, yum, wonderful, amazing actor … [is] so beloved by Dan and Jon that I knew I was going to be partnered up with someone really special, and he did not disappoint. He was a dream to work with.” Source

“This scene gives them a real relationship. It wasn’t just some sort of Fly By Night kind of thing, not a fling or fad, he’s invested. He’s invested in her, he loves her. And he is invested in a son who he loves.” Source

“When Poseidon turns around to Percy, it's like, 'You don't realize what you've cost me,' but he's not going to let him know that. Instead, he's like, 'You're trouble, but I love you and I'm proud of you at the same time. And I'm willing to save you.” Source

"He's like, 'Yeah, I dream about her all the time, and it's incredibly painful. And if only I could talk to you about it, but I'm not going to do that.’ There is that side of our parents that is always mysterious.“ Source

Toby behind the scenes:

Photo by Dan Shotz

[randomness-is-my-order]

there was a distinct point in the throne scene where i could hear the emotion really taking over percy’s voice and my jaw actually dropped. had to pause and take a lap. grab tissues. mentally plan their emmy campaign. shoutout walker scobell for having a Moment in each episode (sometimes multiple) and showing up every single time, doing each one better than the last

this ep just made me so excited for all of the trio’s actors, i feel like i’m watching the start of some very impressive careers and it’s an honor

i agree with absolutely everything you said!! truly, walker’s been impressing me since i first saw him on screen (the adam project; just a few months before he was announced for pjo). initially, i thought his comedic timing and physicality set him a cut above the rest but really, in pjo, i’ve been constantly stumped by his emotional intensity. he brings a gentleness, authenticity and emotional maturity to his portrayal of percy and the throne scene was so well done!! you can tell the thoughts behind his eyes, you can see BUILD-UP before he says something or he collapses from the poison from his face alone. again, he’s serving fucking microexpressions already which blows my mind!! his little brave smiles and wavering tones as he reassured annabeth (and himself) while he was being swallowed by gold BROKE me.

also like leah and aryan match his energy 100%!! i think i may be in the minority that wasn’t entirely convinced by their acting chops in the first two episodes (don’t come at me pls!!) but after episode five i would be a FOOL to doubt their capabilities!! leah’s portrayal of annabeth is both full of wisdom yet with the right amount of 12 yr old girl energy. it’s a balancing act. she makes annabeth both incredibly capable yet delivers annabeth’s high intensity emotional moments with expressiveness befitting a 12 yr old. but that’s the thing: she doesn’t overdo it. annabeth is just on the EDGE of losing it, she doesn’t straight up lose it because she does indeed have experience with loss before. she’s gonna do so well. and aryan has added soooooo much more to grover’s book counterpart. not only does he manage to make grover be nervous and be hesitant and grappling with some confidence issues but he also makes grover be fun and whacky and sharp and clever and SUBTLE. his scene with ares was phenomenal coz atleast for me you could see the process of his manipulation through his expressions alone. you can see the little smugness in his eyes as he manages the god of war. just so well done!! also some of aryan’s line deliveries are so goddamn hilarious. 😭

ok yeah about time i rambled about our celestial trio and their very capable actors! i hope they have thriving careers but that they stay happy and healthy throughout!

[chaoticandsleepdeprived]

Percy Jackson Tv Show: Failing to meet expectations

I just think Rick Riordan should have been more honest from the start that it wouldn’t be a page for page adaption. Because that was not the vibes he was giving in the past, he always made it seem like it would be a faithful adaptation. And sure it’s loyal to the book but a faithful adaptation?

No, instead almost everything is changed, and sure we end up with the same result in the end but I understand why people are disappointed about it not being like in the books. Especially when that’s what you expected.

I just think he should have been more clear on the fact that its a new spin on the book we all know and love, and yet still keeps its core values

( this has nothing To Do with the actors, They are doing the best They can with the material they’ve been given)

On a blog post back in april in 2022 he wrote this

And sure it might just be because I’m older and seeing it from another perspective. But I honestly think the show lacks depth. And instead of getting trio content, we get so much Percabeth, and yes I love Percabeth but they are a trio and yet it just feels like Percabeth plus Grover.

[kitsunekat9]

PJO Show Casting

Okay so before I start THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT ABOUT ANNABETH. Any of you racists who wanna complain about her being black, leave. That ain’t what this post is about.

Spoiler warning for Episode 8 of PJO

The actor for Zeus is black. And that’s a horrible decision made by the casting director. Looking at the power dynamic and hierarchy, Zeus is the god with the most power, whom everyone must bow down to. In the show’s own words, he’s “the one everyone fears and MUST obey” or something along those lines. Zeus is basically the epitome of white patriarchy. So in casting a black man to play his role, the PJO show loses that subtext of oppressed children fighting against a patriarchal system that abuses them. And yeah, maybe in the books Zeus isn’t ever really held accountable, but it was heading that way in Trials of Apollo. If you wanna argue that the show shouldn’t bring politics or whatever into a kids’ show, I’d argue they’d already did that by making the change with Medusa, and portraying her in a sympathetic light. We got to see Medusa as a victim of the gods, and the whole narrative of the entire show is that the gods are not the omnipotent, infallible beings they claim to be. It makes more sense for Zeus to be white because white men hold the most power in society. Making Zeus black in the show just falls straight into the Angry Black Man stereotype, and it also looks worse considering Hades and Poseidon are both clearly white. The show has made Zeus a power hungry, greedy, egotistical aggressor (which his character is, I’m definitely not arguing against that), but casting a black actor to play his role cheapens the allegory and subtly worsens people’s perceptions of black men. Yeah, you could argue it’s not that deep. However, it just doesn’t sit right with me that the show is (rightfully) making Zeus somewhat of an antagonist while also making him black.

It’s cool that Hades is kinda gay-coded and very clearly not evil, as the books intended. Hades is fair and it’s a correct portrayal, but making him the innocent (sorta gay) white man against Mean Dickhead Zeus is not a good choice.

Furthermore, I’m conflicted on their choice of actor for Percy. Don’t get me wrong, Walker Scobell is incredibly talented and he was able to pull off a lot of good emotional scenes. I’m just… torn about the decision to make him blond instead of dark-haired because we lose the ability to imagine Percy as a marginalized kid fighting against oppression and standing up for what he believes is right. In the books, it’s obvious that Percy and his mother are poor, don’t live in a great area, and don’t trust authorities like the police to help them. These are all experiences shared by people of color, and a lot of fans imagined Percy with darker skin, thinking he could be black, other POC, or mixed race, which makes Percy a great symbolic underdog that POC fans can project themselves onto. In the show, Percy is very, very obviously white. With dark hair, people could have at least pretended Percy was mixed race and white passing, strengthening the narrative about not fitting in and being of two worlds. He’s blond, and pale skinned, so that’s no longer possible. PJO loses that nuanced angle of a boy from a minority community rising up to become a hero by making Percy just white.

Annabeth’s casting, I have no problem with. It’s important for little black girls to see themselves in her role, because she’s the daughter of the wisdom goddess, which is not a trait stereotypically associated with black girls. Annabeth being black shows that yes, black girls ARE smart, and brave, and can be heroines too. Would’ve been cool to make her blond, since blond black girls are often seen as dumb and that would be a great subversion, but I’m not too fussed with it.

Anyways these are just some thoughts I have on representation in PJO. I have plenty of other thoughts about other subjects on the show, so feel free to drop by my inbox or just chat with me about PJO. :)

[vicsy]

Had some time over the last month to watch a couple of movies I've been meaning to and felt like sharing my opinion about them!

The Whole Nine Yards – I remember seeing it on TV ages ago. Recently I finished reading Matthew Perry's biography and he talked lengths about making this movie and how enjoyable it was. I felt the need to watch him alive on the screen again and this was, in a way, a perfect movie of pretty much a lost genre of whimsical criminal comedies. Matthew's brand of humor always resonated with me and helped shape the way I tend to joke around. When you look at him you always see Chandler but in this case it was an added bonus. Overall this movie is not THE epitome of "omg best movie ever!" but it doesn't make less enjoyable and quirky. Reminded me a lot of simpler times.

Bottoms – okay, look. I'm an Ayo Edebiri enthusiast and this movie only helped cement it further. Angry and brash and really fucking funny. I love the gratuitous violence, loved the setting that moved from a modern time high school to, once again, a place from the early 2000s. Rachel Sennott was so good in this movie and also the character Nicholas Galitzine played made me actually want to punch him through the screen. A lot of serious issues that were conveyed through joking dialogue did not come off as an offensive but something rather pointed and I love the delivery. Incredible choice of wardrobe and movie score, honestly did not expect to like it as much as I did!

Practical Magic – another movie I last saw when I was a literal child. I wanted to rewatch it after a deep dive video about Charmed and the era where movies about witches were at its all time high. I feel like plot wise there isn't much to look at but the movie is carried by the characters and their uniqueness. Magic is just a nice bonus in there. Oh, and the duo of Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman? Truly enjoyable even after so many years.

The Adam Project – needed an action flick after witnessing Deadpool and Wolverine. Had been meaning to watch that movie for a long time and, while I was flying home, finally got to it. As someone who is not fond of time travel, I did not expect to like the concept but, man. I really did. A really, really great cast and plot that managed to pack an emotional punch, apart from humor built off of Ryan Reynolds and Walker Scobell, who plays the younger version of Ryan's character. I think at the core there is a theme of dealing with grief and lost time but all wrapped up in action sequences, jokes that sometimes land and sometimes don't, and pretty great visuals. Gotta commend the dynamic between the actors – it felt really natural and unforced.

gotta catch up on other stuff that I am yet to watch buuuutt here's this!!

[genya-ruination-safin]

PJO DAY ONE

New updates!

This is it, demigods! Here in Vancouver, we have all hands on deck for the first day of filming on Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The excitement is so thick you could cut it with a celestial bronze ballpoint pen!

Even more cause for celebration: let me introduce you to some of our incredible adult cast members you will meet in the first couple of episodes, listed in alphabetic order.

VIRGINIA KULL - SALLY JACKSON

From Austin, Texas, Virginia Kull has appeared in Boardwalk Empire, Big Little Lies, Mr. Mercedes and NOS4A2, among many other films and shows. Originally, she planned to be a doctor, but fortunately for all of us, she decided to pursue acting instead! Her combination of strength, humor and heart makes her just the Sally Jackson we need. In the table read for episode 101, her performance moved us to tears.

JASON MANTZOUKAS - MR. D

Hailing from Nahant, MA, Jason has decades of experience in movies and television, having showcased his dramatic and comedic skills in shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Recreation, The League, The Good Place, Big Mouth and Invincible. Self-described as “100% Greek,” Jason is the perfect guy to inhabit everyone’s favorite grumpy wine god and head of camp, Dionysus. He’s also an accomplished jazz drummer!

MEGAN MULLALLY - MRS DODDS

Originally from Los Angeles, Megan rose to fame playing Karen Walker on Will & Grace, for which she won three Screen Actors Guild awards and received four Golden Globe nominations. She has appeared in dozen of films, and has brought her talents to such TV series as The Great North, Parks and Recreation, and 30 Rock. She is also the voice of Gayle in Bob’s Burgers.

GLYNN TERMAN - MR BRUNNER

Where to even start with Glynn’s legendary career? One of his first stage roles was at the age of twelve, when he appeared alongside Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee in the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Since then, he’s had such notable TV roles as Mayor Clarence V. Royce  on The Wire, Jeremiah Kaan in House of Lies, and Doctor Senator in Fargo, winning many awards and accolades along the way. He also starred in the feature Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom with Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman. Not only is he a multitalented actor, Glynn is also a champion rodeo cowboy who has run Camp Gid D Up in Southern California since 1992 to introduce inner city and at-risk youth to horsemanship at a working ranch. In other words, he is the perfect Chiron, the immortal centaur and trainer of heroes at Camp Half-Blood.

TIMM SHARP - GABE UGLIANO

Hailing from Fargo, North Dakota, Timm has been a TV series regular on Blunt Talk, Undeclared, Enlightened, Briarpatch and Six Feet Under. Over the past twenty years, he has appeared in dozens of films and shows from Fun with Dick and Jane to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and is also active in the Los Angeles improv comedy community. Timm had us laughing out loud with his take on Gabe Ugliano, and we can’t wait to see him play stepdad to Walker Scobell’s Percy Jackson!

More to come, demigods! Look for another post from me next week, when I will share a few more inside scoops about how filming is going. Further casting information will be coming out in phases, so stay tuned and be patient!

[nymph-of-books]

hiiiii time for me to talk about how much poc annabeth & grover mean to me. i'd hoped and assumed that grover would be poc and i was so. so surprised to see grover portrayed by aryan simhadri because i never thought i'd see someone like me and my family portrayed in percy jackson besides a kid who was there for six seconds and all he did was run and scream. i was genuinely filled with joy as well at the sight of this south asian boy and i am so glad that aryan has been chosen. i am very excited to see how he plays grover, i've seen him in clips before & know he is an incredible actor. poc annabeth was something i'd hoped for but never assumed we'd get, and i am tearing up as i am writing this because i am. it took my breath away to see leah sava jeffries in the announcement. i never in a million years believed we'd get what we wanted in terms of poc annabeth, and am just... awestruck that we did. leah appears to be a very capable actress & i'm sure she'll bring one of my favourite characters to life in the best way possible. that being said, my heart breaks for the hate i know she'll get & already has. it's been little more than a day and so many people and speaking about "she just isn't accurate" "i just don't like her because she has black hair". god. first of all, while a few were skeptical about percy's iconic messy black hair & sea-green eyes not shown on walker scobell, it was no way as big as the dissent followed by leah. personally, i'd love to see leah WITHOUT blonde hair, because seeing poc characters with non-lightened features is always wonderful to see, but we know just as much about leah's changes in the series as we do walker's. are all these people's problems about her having different hair colour? i'm pretty sure not, and it makes me furious. one of the major problems with the original series is the lack of poc representation that rick riordan later tried to rectify with hoo. we will always have book annabeth (who was poc anyway in my brain, but that's besides the point), and just because leah doesn't match up with the idea in your brain, doesn't mean you should be bullying a 12 year old. that being said, i am so. so happy with this casting.

[stuff-diary]

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2024

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Season 1, 2023/24, USA)

Directors: James Bobin, Anders Engström & Jet Wilkinson

Creators: Rick Riordan & Jonathan E. Steinberg (based on the books by Rick Riordan)

Mini-review:

At this point everyone knows it, but this adaptation was like a dream come true for so many people, including me. You could just tell how much love and passion went into every single part of it. The writers did an incredible job capturing the books' style and narrative voice, and they also managed to include new twists and scenes that enriched the material even further. The production designers, make-up artists, costume designers and VFX artists also delivered big time in every single episode. And the cast, WOW. I don't know how they did it, but they managed to find the perfect actors. Everyone did a fantastic job, but I just need to highlight Walker Scobell's work. He's basically Percy Jackson himself, and he's on his way to becoming the best actor of his generation (if he isn't already). So yeah, Rick Riordan can be 100% proud of this brilliant adaptation, and I really hope we get at least to the fifth book.

[groversimp]

OPINION POST!

Some of you guys need to stfu about Walker Scobell (the kid casted as Percy) and just leave him alone.

The poor kid is literally 13, you don’t need to be commenting on his appearance or saying “but Percy isn’t blonde 🤓”

Literally be quiet. He’s a kid and you’re just being annoying. He’s going to play the role well, have you seen his other roles??? Walker is an incredible actor and he’s going to do great. So, stop.

Stop harassing him and be quiet. If you don’t like it suck it up and deal with it.

[ratbastarddotfuck]

Online harassment (ESPECIALLY now that they've announced non-white cast members; the racists love to be racist to children on instagram), sexualising and shipping not just the characters but the actors themselves, treating the actors like they're their own fandom and writing obsessive RPF about them and their friends/coworkers, obsessively commenting on their social media posts, generally just being creeps about people who are quite literally children.

When I made this post, only Percy's actor, Walker Scobell (sp?) had been announced, and I'd already seen people hyping him up and talking like he's their "squishy sassy fetus boy" (a real thing I've seen) and just generally treating him how people treat their fictional blorbos. It fucking sucks, and it is creepy as hell. This is incredibly similar to how things started with the Stranger Things/IT kids, and it rapidly devolved into being insanely creepy and gross about them. I don't want the same thing to happen here.

I really just hope people in the fandom can treat these kids as actors, and not as real-life extensions of their characters.

Hello im begging the Percy Jackson fandom to always remember that this kid they've cast as Percy, and every kid they cast for the show in the future, is a real human person and also a literal child. Please be normal, and don't be weird creeps about a real human child. He is not your blorbo, he is an actor.

Be excited - I am, I think he's going to do a great job and I'm really hopeful for the show - but please don't give him or any of the other cast members the same sort of treatment that the stranger things kids have gotten over the years.

[shippingdragons]

How 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' pulled off Poseidon and Sally's emotional diner chat

Virginia Kull and Toby Stephens talk about shooting episode 7's pivotal scene.

By Belen Edwards on January 27, 2024

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a rollicking fantasy adventure, complete with frightening monsters, high-stakes battles, and gods pulled straight from Greek mythology. So it may come as a surprise that one of the show's best — and most talked-about — scenes is a quiet discussion between two parents.

Of course, these aren't normal parents. One is the Greek god Poseidon (Toby Stephens). The other is mortal Sally Jackson (Virginia Kull), who has spent the last 12 years preparing her son Percy (Walker Scobell) for his heroic destiny — and protecting him from the world of the Olympians.

Like many stories from ancient legends, Sally and Poseidon's relationship is a tragic romance. Separated by circumstances of literally mythic proportion, unable to raise Percy together because Olympian law dictates that Poseidon shouldn't even have a child, their story has no clear solution. Sally carries the burden of the truth about Percy's parentage, while Poseidon is unable to help without endangering both his son and the woman he loves. It's a tough dynamic to understand solely through Percy's eyes, but in episode 7, "We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of," Percy Jackson and the Olympians offers us a bigger window into Sally and Poseidon's connection, in all its painful messiness and surprising beauty.

"We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of" marks our first introduction to Poseidon and what his relationship with Sally really looks like. Because of this, our first glimpse of Poseidon in the flesh is not some bombastic display of godly power, but of a man and a woman simply talking in a diner about the difficulties Sally faces in raising Percy alone.

"It was a really clever way to introduce their relationship and introduce Poseidon, because it makes them very human," Stephens said of the scene in a video call with Mashable. "It's a domestic scene between a mother and father, and at the heart of it there's this pain. It's a yearning between two people to be connected who can't be, but Poseidon is also yearning to be connected with his son but can't because he's protecting him."

The diner scene was the first scene Stephens shot for the series, yet the chemistry and history between Poseidon and Sally were already well within reach for the actors. "I really liked working with Virginia, and she's a really great actress," said Stephens. "We found that very quickly. The scene just had a very intimate feel."

Percy Jackson and the Olympians began creating that sense of intimacy between Sally and Poseidon right from the very first episode, with a scene that sees Sally sitting on her fire escape, taking in the rain.

Kull was incredibly excited to see the fire escape scene when she first read the script. "In television, you typically don't have time for things like quiet, ordinary moments. And this seems like a humdrum moment, but I think it tells such a huge story," Kull said. "It's not just Sally sitting in the rain on the fire escape — she's sitting in the rain communing with the great love of her life and the father of her kid, and this is the way that she feels close to him."

The diner sequence feels like a natural progression from that fire escape moment. Sally and Poseidon are connecting in both, but there's still a distance between them. On the fire escape, Poseidon isn't actually present. But even when he's next to Sally in the diner, there's a tragic divide between them. They're close, but still far apart.

Director Anders Engström achieved this paradoxical nearness by telling Kull and Stephens to play the whole scene without ever looking at each other. For Kull, that became a key to unlocking the power of the diner scene.

"What that did to us as actors was that all of the feelings of, 'I need to see how this is affecting the person that I'm speaking to, I want to know what he thinks about what I'm saying,' we couldn't act on," Kull explained. "Therefore, the desire to be heard, to be understood, and to connect was so heightened and so charged, it was electric. It meant that any bad impulse to 'perform' went away, and I was just desperately listening to and clinging to what he was saying. Even the silences were powerful."

In these silences, where Sally and Poseidon sit shoulder-to-shoulder yet never look at one another, Percy Jackson and the Olympians builds an entire world of a relationship that, up to this point, we haven't fully understood.

"Because Poseidon has been absent for the whole show, the audience is going, 'What a jerk, this guy is this absentee father.' And then when you meet him, you go, 'Right, I get it. It's much more complicated, and actually he really does care,'" Stephens said. "This scene is not in the book, but I think it's needed in the TV version, because it gives you much more context."