Lin-Manuel Miranda is continuing his lengthy and profitable relationship with Disney and is also embarking on another YA project. He will play the speedster god Hermes on Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians. This take on Hermes “looks out for travelers and thieves and is himself a trickster.”
“Hermes is described as charismatic and the life of the party — but his charm does little to heal a strained relationship with his son, Luke (Charlie Bushnell), who like Percy (Walker Scobell) is a demigod. Hermes is hesitant to help Percy and his friends, as sometimes getting involved is more trouble than it’s worth.”
Two of Riordan’s best-selling Percy Jackson novels were adapted into movies, 2010’s Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief and 2013’s Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. The characters were aged up for these films. Overall, Riordan hated them. The author is more directly involved with the Disney+ show and even co-wrote the pilot with Jon Steinberg.
As mentioned, Walker Scobell (The Adam Project) is playing Percy Jackson, who discovers he is the son of the Greek god Poseidon. Aryan Simhadri and Leah Sava Jeffries play his friends Grover, a faun, and Annabeth, the daughter of Athena, respectively. Recurring and guest actors include Megan Mullally, Virginia Kull, Glynn Turman, Jason Mantzoukas, Timm Sharp, Dior Goodjohn, Olivea Morton, Adam Copeland, Suzanne Cryer and Jessica Parker Kennedy.
Lin-Manuel Miranda recently starred on another YA adaptation, HBO’s His Dark Materials. He is, of course, best known for writing and starring in one of the biggest Broadway musical hits, like… ever, Hamilton, which is available as a filmed version on Disney+. Prior to Hamilton, he wrote the musical In the Heights, which was turned into a film last year. For Disney, he co-starred in Mary Poppins Returns, wrote the song “Lido Hey” for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, “How Far I’ll Go” for Ralph Breaks the Internet, and all of the songs for Moana, and Encanto. He has also contributed to the live-action version of The Little Mermaid.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians will strike Disney+ in 2024.
