A message has arrived from Mount Olympus!
Disney+ has a great many shows in production, but one that’s generating quite a lot of talk is Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Based on the colossally popular book series by Rick Riordan, the show will follow young Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell), a teenager who discovers that he is in fact the son of Poseidon. Percy goes off to Camp Half-Blood where he befriends other teen demigods including Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries), the daughter of the Greek goddess Athena, and a satyr named Grover (Aryan Simhadri). Together, the trio will set off on an adventure to recover Zeus’ stolen lightning bolt. Good times and riotous adventures ensue.
A message from the messenger god himself: @Lin_Manuel Miranda is Hermes in #PercyJackson and the Olympians, an Original series coming to @DisneyPlus! pic.twitter.com/91tDQDudAw
— Percy Jackson (@PercySeries) November 7, 2022
Lin-Manuel Miranda will play Hermes on Percy Jackson and the Olympians
As you might expect from a story drawing on Greek Myth, Percy and his friends will cross paths with plenty of other deities along the way. One of them is the messenger god Hermes, who will be played by none other than Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda is probably still best known for writing and starring in the musical Hamilton, but he’s done tons of other stuff in the intervening years, including starring in HBO’s His Dark Materials as aeronaut Lee Scoresby.
This is an interesting announcement, because Hermes doesn’t appear in person in the first of Riordan’s Percy Jackson novels, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. His presence is strongly felt, however, as his cabin at Camp Half-Blood is the place where unclaimed children of gods usually end up, Percy among them. Hermes starts to take on a more important role in the follow-up The Sea of Monsters. Maybe the Disney+ show will be drawing from both books for its first season? Casting an actor like Miranda in the role definitely makes one think it’ll be a substantial part.
There’s no release date yet for Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Based on our most recent consultation with the Fates, expect to see this one no sooner than late 2023 or early 2024.
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