Logan Lerman denies he’s in the Percy Jackson show, doesn’t convince people

Disney is currently hard at work on a TV adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the YA book series by Rick Riordan about a young boy who discovers he’s the son of a Greek god and goes to a camp for magical children like him where he meets two best friends who will be his constant companions throughout his adventures (I know, tell me you wrote this in the wake of Harry Potter without telling me you wrote this in the wake of Harry Potter). The series was previously adapted as a couple of movies in the early 2010s starring Logan Lerman as the title character, but this new version promises to be much more faithful to the books, not least of all because Riordan is more closely involved.

Walker Scobell will play the young Percy on the show, but fans are wondering if Lerman might show up in some capacity, either in a different role (Percy’s father Poseidon is a popular request) or even just as a cameo. “I’m really excited,” Lerman told The Hollywood Reporter when asked about the upcoming series while promoting his new film Bullet Train. “Curious to see it. Everything I’ve seen so far, peripherally, just about like casting and how they’re doing it, and that Rick is running it, just makes me happy…for the fans. I’m excited for this new generation to watch it.”

And then THR asked him if he could appear in the new show, which is when things got interesting. I’m going to try and transcribe his response as best I can:

"I mean…I mean…yuwocu…I mean, it’s an interesting question because…could you? I mean, sure…but I’m not."

Is Logan Lerman in the new Percy Jackson show on Disney+?

Okay, so I’m not going to claim like I’m some kind of body language expert who can deduce what a person is feeling in the deepest recesses of their heart just from the way they speak. In fact, that kind of armchair psychology is kind of boring and occasionally gross. Did Lerman stutter and stammer during that response? Sure, but it doesn’t mean he was lying. Maybe that’s just the way he talks. Maybe he’s tired of answering this question and was struggling to think of something new to say. Maybe his mind was elsewhere. Maybe he was thinking about cheese fries; I know I often am.

But Lerman’s scattered response seems to have convinced a lot of people that he is definitely in the new Percy Jackson show, to the point where Rick Riordan’s wife Becky threw in her two cents:

"Fans, when he says “I’m not” this is true. Please stop asking this talented actor if he is in our show! I know, I know, I too dream of Percy saying to his father “Why do you look like the guy from that movie?” Sadly this is not happening."

Do we believe her, or take this as more evidence of a conspiracy afoot? We’ll find out for sure whenever Percy Jackson and the Olympians drops on Disney+

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