Courtney B. Vance Is ‘Percy Jackson’s New Zeus: See His Tribute to Lance Reddick

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has found its new Zeus in Courtney B. Vance. The two-time Emmy-winning actor replaces Lance Reddick as the sky god following The Wire alum’s death in March 2023.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am to join the extraordinary cast of Percy Jackson and the Olympians!” Vance said in a statement on Monday, November 25. “There are few moments in an actor’s career when you can honestly say that you’re about to board a series that has such a devoted fan base filled with characters beloved around the world and is based on a wildly successful book series. 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.”

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 is currently filming and is set to premiere in 2025 on Disney+. Here’s the official description for the new season: “Percy Jackson returns to Camp Half-Blood one year later to find his world turned upside down. His friendship with Annabeth is changing, he learns he has a cyclops for a brother, Grover has gone missing, and camp is under siege from the forces of Kronos. Percy’s journey to set things right will take him off the map and into the deadly Sea of Monsters, where a secret fate awaits the son of Poseidon.”

Season 2 is featured in Disney+’s teaser for its 2025 programming slate. In the video above, Percy (Walker Scobell) is seen in two sword fights, one against Clarisse La Rue (Dior Goodjohn), and in a chariot race at Camp Half-Blood that fans of the books will instantly recognize. The teaser came just a few days after the D23 expo in Brazil, during which the series revealed that singer and Oscar-nominee Andra Day will play the goddess Athena.

Here’s everything there is to know so far about Percy Jackson Season 2, which will be based on Rick Riordan‘s novel Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters.

Who plays Athena in Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2?

Day will play Annabeth’s (Leah Sava Jeffries) mother, Athena, in the second season, set to premiere in 2025. Her casting came with the first photo of the onscreen mother and daughter duo together in costume and a video greeting for fans. Day recently starred in Netflix‘s The Deliverance and was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as singer Billie Holiday in the 2021 film The United States vs. Billie Holiday.

Percy Jackson announced in September that Tamara Smart will play Thalia in Season 2, a major book character who is mentioned in The Lightning Thief but plays a bigger role in book two, Sea of Monsters. Thalia is the demigod daughter of Zeus who made her last stand to protect her friends at the edge of Camp Half-Blood. Rather than let her die, Zeus transformed her into a tree that anchors the force field that protects camp. Tough and prickly, with a rebel/punk sensibility, Thalia is fiercely loyal to her friends and distrustful of her father’s world.

Smart has a special connection to the late Reddick, who played Zeus in Season 1. She has already played Reddick’s onscreen daughter before in Resident Evil, in which she played young Jade Wesker opposite Reddick’s Al Wesker. She’ll now costar alongside Vance as onscreen father and daughter, should the characters meet onscreen. Smart addressed the poignant connection in a statement when her casting was announced on September 23.

“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,” Smart said. “I feel his presence all around me and strive to make him proud on this exciting journey.”

The 19-year-old actor also paid tribute to Reddick on Instagram on September 23 by sharing a photo of them together captioned, “For you.” (See the Percy Jackson team’s comments about Reddick’s performance as Zeus here.)

 

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Who else is in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 cast?

Percy Jackson stars Scobell, Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri as Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. Percy’s parents, Poseidon and Sally Jackson, are played by Toby Stephens and Virginia Kull. Additional returning costars are Glynn Turman, Goodjohn, Charlie Bushnell, and Jason Mantzoukas, along with newcomer Daniel Diemer as Percy’s cyclops half-brother, Tyson. Wrestling star Adam Copeland (aka Edge) could be back as Ares in Season 2, but that’s not yet confirmed.

Additional new characters this season are Veep‘s Timothy Simons as Tantalus, a Greek demigod king, in a recurring guest star role in Season 2, per Variety. Tantalus is a son of Zeus from Riordan’s books (and, of course, Greek mythology) who first appears in the Sea of Monsters book. The character description reveals that he’s taking Chiron’s (Turman) job at Camp Half-Blood in the new season. Tantalus is described as “sardonic, manipulative, openly hostile, and rarely in a good mood… seeing as he is cursed with eternal hunger and thirst, but can never eat or drink.”

The character description continues: “Tantalus has been released from imprisonment in the Underworld to become the interim Activities Director at Camp Half-Blood, having replaced Chiron (Glynn Turman) who is under suspicion of having ties to Kronos.”

Diemer plays Tyson, “a young Cyclops who grew up all alone on the streets, and finds it difficult to survive in the human world. Shy and awkward, with a heart almost as big as he is, Tyson soon discovers that Poseidon is his father, which means Percy Jackson is his half-brother… and that Tyson may have finally found a home.”

Kristen Schaal, Margaret Cho, and Sandra Bernhard will play the Gray Sisters, a mythological trio of women from Riordan’s books who share one eye and one tooth and operate a “taxi firm” in New York City. Bernhard is Anger, Schaal is Tempest, and Cho is Wasp. Details about the characters were shared during the D23 panel.

Bernhard’s Anger handles collecting cab fare from heroes who call upon the taxi service. She impatiently awaits her turn with the shared eye currently being used by Tempest. She uses it to peer at the heroes, see into their futures, and poke fun at aspects of their social lives like crushes. Wasp drives the Gray Sisters Taxi and takes the heroes on a hair-raising ride to Camp Half-Blood. She may be blind most of the time, but she’s seen a lot of things in her time.

What happened in Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 1?

In Season 1, Percy Jackson is on a dangerous quest. Outrunning monsters and outwitting gods, he must journey across America to return Zeus’ master bolt and stop an all-out war. After losing his mother, Sally (Kull), Percy is sheltered at Camp Half-Blood, a sanctuary for demigod children. He must prove himself and confront his origins once he discovers he too is a demigod, and will take off into the perils of pursuing enemies in search of the Underworld. With the help of his quest mates Annabeth and Grover, Percy’s journey will lead him closer to the answers he seeks: how to fit into a world where he feels out of place, if he’ll ever see his mother again, and if he can ever find out who he’s destined to be.

Percy’s Season 1 adventure ended with Zeus’ bolt restored, among other key familial developments that we’ll let the episodes reveal themselves, and with the trio back at Camp Half-Blood before returning to their homes at the end of summer. Grover is on a mission to find Pan, the long-missing god of nature, which will take him to the seas in Season 2, based on the second book of the franchise.

Is Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 filming now?

Production began on Percy Jackson Season 2 in August 2024. It is currently filming in Vancouver, Canada.

Is there a Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 trailer?

There is no official trailer yet, but Disney+ did debut the first teaser from Season 2 at D23 Expo earlier in 2024. There were also snippets of new footage in the aforementioned November teaser. The teaser reveals the first footage of Scobell in the new season and seems to depict the chariot race scene from the Sea of Monsters novel. In the video above, Scobell’s Percy takes the reins of a chariot while wearing his Camp Half-Blood armor. During the D23 panel, it was confirmed that there will be more time spent at Camp Half-Blood in Season 2.

When does Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 come out?

An official release date has not yet been announced, but Disney+ confirmed at D23 that Season 2 will premiere in 2025 on the streaming platform.

Which book is Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 based on?

The new episodes will be based on the second book in Riordan’s original PJO franchise, The Sea of Monsters. Riordan expressed his excitement to head into the Sea of Monsters when the series was renewed in February 2024, about one week after the Season 1 finale came out.

“I can’t wait to bring the next season of Percy Jackson to Disney+!” Riordan said in a statement at the time. “Raise anchors. Hoist the mainsail. All hands on deck, demigods. We’re heading for the Sea of Monsters!”

How many episodes are in Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2?

Riordan revealed in an update on his blog that the writers’ room is developing scripts based on an eight-episode outline he created in 2023. Season 1 was also eight episodes.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Season 2 Premiere, 2025, Disney+