Disney has announced that Walker Scobel will be playing the title role in their series adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Olympians .
Walker has recently appeared in The Adam Project (2022), as young Adam, against Ryan Reynolds’ adult version of the character. The movie co-starred Mark Ruffalo (Dr. Banner in the MCU) and Zoe Saldana (Neytiri in the Avatar franchise, Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, and Uhura in the J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot films starting in 2009), so Walker, despite his youth—he’s only 13—is already used to working with some very big names (Walker also gave a wonderful performance in a middle school play.) He also will be appearing in Secret Headquarters, which will be released later this year.
Walker is a fan of the Percy Jackson books, and Rick Riordan himself approved his casting. There is no word yet on who will be playing Chiron or Annabeth. Filming will take place in Vancouver, which means the forest of Long Island will look familiar to Stargate SG-1 fans.
Percy Jackson is a not so ordinary New York preteen who discovers he is a demigod, the son of Poseidon and a mortal mother. As such, he attracts monsters and must be trained as a hero. What he considers as difficulties in his mundane life, ADHD, dyslexia, are acrually signs of his divine heritage. Demigods are dyslexic because thry’re genetically hardwired to read Ancient Greek. They have ADD because they’re born to be heroes, and in battle they must pay attention to a thousand things at once, The hyperactivity is so they can leap into battle at a nanosecond’s notice.
The new Disney Plus series, is supposed to be much closer to the books than the movie adaptations, which starred Logan Lerman. It is therefore hardly surprising as author Rick Riordan is closely involved with the Disney series.
Hmm, both George Lucas and Stephen Cannell were known to have dyslexia. You don’t suppose…?
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Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress #30”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
