The pantheon has expanded! Several new additions to the cast for the second season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians have recently been announced, and fans are excited. Daniel Diemer, a 28-year-old Canadian best known for his work in Netflix’s The Half of It will play Percy’s younger half-brother who turns out to be a Cyclops. Tamara Smart, a Brit known for her role in the fantasy TV series The Worst Witch, has won the role of Thalia Grace, the punk-rock daughter of Zeus. In an interesting, and possibly controversial decision, it has been announced by author Rick Riordan via an online event for the newest Percy Jackson book, The Wrath of the Triple Goddess, that Smart will use her own accent in the role, although Thalia is not British in the original book series. Smart has a connection to the late Lance Reddick who portrayed Zeus in season 1, having played his daughter in the Resident Evil TV series. Smart, via a Disney press release, said of the link “I’m so grateful and excited to be joining the cast of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It’s so close to my heart. Lance Reddick and I always spoke about working together again, so it’s that much more special and important to me to play his daughter once more as Thalia, and to keep his memory alive. I feel his presence all around me and strive to make him proud on this exciting journey.”
The role of Zeus has been recast, with Reddick’s friend and prolific actor Courtney B. Vance signing on to play the god. In a statement to Variety, Vance said this in tribute to Reddick: “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.”
In other godly news, Andra Day, an accredited actress and singer most recently seen in the horror-thriller film The Deliverance, was announced to play the goddess of wisdom and war, Athena. The news was accompanied by a picture of her and Leah Sava Jeffries, who plays her on-screen daughter Annabeth Chase. Sandra Bernhard, Kristen Schaal, and Margaret Cho will guest as the Gray Sisters. Actresses Heather Feeny and Sage Linder have been announced as part of the cast, but their roles remain unknown.
Filming will wrap near the end of December, and a release date for the eight-episode second season has yet to be announced except that it will be in 2025.
