‘Percy Jackson’: Leah Sava Jeffries Reveals How Annabeth Is a ‘Completely Different Person’ in Season 2

Leah Sava Jeffries had the chance to see her Percy Jackson and the Olympians character, Annabeth Chase, from an outsider’s point of view in Season 2. Jeffries’ own cousin plays her younger self in a poignant flashback that shows how Annabeth, Luke (Charlie Bushnell), and Thalia (Tamara Smart) ended up at Camp Half-Blood. When connecting with Jeffries for TV Insider’s 2025 Fall Preview, the rising star revealed how watching young Annabeth’s scenes being filmed became a class in character development and set up Annabeth’s evolution in the second season, premiering on December 10 on Disney+.

Thalia was mentioned in Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 1. She’s the forbidden child of Zeus (the late Lance Reddick, now played by Courtney B. Vance), who sacrificed herself to save Luke and Annabeth on the border of Camp Half-Blood. Thalia’s Olympian father transformed her into a magical tree that protects the camp from invading monsters. In Season 2, her tree is poisoned, which puts the camp’s magical barrier at high risk of falling, leaving the demigod haven vulnerable to attack. The Annabeth, Thalia, Luke, and Grover (Aryan Simhadri) flashback will show the close bonds between the chosen family, but also highlight how these kids were robbed of safe childhoods because their parents wouldn’t protect them.

“The ability to see the backstory of Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth before they arrived at Camp Half-Blood adds a great deal to the story,” author Rick Riordan told TV Insider. “Young Annabeth is just adorable, and seeing her confront monsters at such a young age really drives home how terrifying it must [be] to grow up as a demigod.”

Jeffries really absorbed that reality when working with her cousin on the flashback scenes. It helped her figure out how to bring the context of Annabeth’s history into the present-day storyline and bring emotional depth to her conflict with Luke, who’s now working for Kronos in a rebellion against Olympus.

Tamara Smart as Thalia in Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 (Disney / David Bukach)

“Being able to actually see the vision of how Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke’s relationship was when [Annabeth] first got here was definitely an advantage that I was grateful to use,” Jeffries shared. “It’s funny because when we did the flashbacks, my baby cousin is actually the girl who plays mini-me. I got to talk her through it and how I act, and I got to give her some pointers about it because we’re so close. She did amazing, first of all. She’s great at what she does. But being able to see it and watch that happen, it was definitely very helpful to put into perspective how I should play this out now.”

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“No one has really seen any flashbacks of how it really happened,” she continued. “Being able to come into this in Season 2 was a very helpful thing because there was a lot of storytelling. So when you read the script or when you’re doing the scene, you have something to back you up on it. It’s just a lot of connections that I was very grateful to use. Being able to channel that into now and try to make that happen, with also having the betrayal of Luke, was a challenge, but something that I was happy to prepare myself for.”

Annabeth is widely regarded as one of Camp Half-Blood’s wisest demigods, if not the wisest. That skill comes with responsibility, and that weighs heavily on Annabeth as they venture out on the Sea of Monsters to save Grover and the camp. She’s burdened with having to withhold information from Percy (Walker Scobell) on this mission, and that becomes increasingly difficult. She also has complicated feelings about the fact that their friendship felt different upon their return to camp, and the introduction of Percy’s cyclops half-brother, Tyson (Daniel Diemer), adds to that as the quest continues. Percy feels equally self-conscious about their struggle to understand each other, and Grover being gone means they have no mediator. Their friendship will be tested by these growing pains, but these demigods aren’t ones to give up when the going gets tough.

Annabeth realizes that there’s no one left at Camp Half-Blood who truly knows her, so she builds up the courage to be vulnerable with Percy. Jeffries said, “You get to see a different side of her instead of just shutting it down.”

She continued: “When we were talking about Athena, [Annabeth’s] mom, in the first season, [Percy] was like, ‘OK, why can’t you call your mom?’ And I was like, ‘You just don’t understand it, do you? I’m not going to just sit here and argue with you.’ Now, I feel like if they asked that question in the second season, Annabeth definitely would have an explanation behind it.” (Andra Day makes her debut as Athena this season.)

Walker Scobell as Percy and Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth in Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 (Disney / David Bukach)

“She’s losing everyone. She lost her protectors. Luke betrayed her, Thalia’s gone, Grover’s gone, so no one knows about her,” Jeffries explained. “The only way for things to get through is if you share some stuff so it won’t fail. When she has to open up to Percy, it allows her to actually feel some type of relief. Seeing that different side of Annabeth, I just keep saying it over and over again, but I’m just really fascinated by how they wrote it this season. I’m really excited, and I’m grateful for the writing this time.”

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Jeffries recalled seeing fans on social media question why Annabeth was so “cold inside” and “stubborn” in Season 1. She looks forward to them seeing Annabeth tell her story in her own words this time around.

“The people who have read the books, they know, but I feel like even people who have read the books are seeing a little bit different side of Annabeth than the first season,” Jeffries shared. “Playing that part and then being able to play a completely different person in Season 2 was a switch. That’s the shift that I am excited for people to see because it comes with the backstory. Instead of Annabeth just telling the story, and you’re putting your imagination to it, they’re giving you a flashback to actually see the visual of how it happened.”

Knowledge is power. Percy and viewers will learn that getting to know the real Annabeth is a powerful thing.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Season 2 Premiere (Two Episodes), Wednesday, December 10, Disney+