‘Percy Jackson’: Tamara Smart Hid Lance Reddick Tributes All Over Her Thalia Costumes

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 finale.]

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 has made some big book changes, but its biggest came in the season finale, which came out on January 21 on Disney+ and Hulu. The finale’s ending followed Rick Riordan‘s conclusion of The Sea of Monsters novel, in that it brought Thalia Grace (Tamara Smart) back to life, but not before it changed a huge thing about how she perished on Half-Blood Hill and became Camp Half-Blood’s magical barrier.

Courtney B. Vance debuted as Zeus, previously played by the late Lance Reddick, in this flashback scene. In it, Thalia defied her father and threatened to continue to do so, rejecting him and the powerful life he wanted her to embrace. Rather than Thalia dying in a monster fight on that hill and Zeus transforming her into a magical tree to honor her sacrifice, the Percy Jackson TV creators made Thalia’s fate a terrifying, deliberate punishment from Zeus instead. On top of that, and unbeknownst to Zeus and Thalia, Chiron (Glynn Turman) witnessed it all. The big Thalia change was Riordan’s idea, executive producer Craig Silverstein told TV Insider.

Chiron revealed the truth to Percy (Walker Scobell), Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries), and Grover (Aryan Simhadri) after the dust settled from the battle on Half-Blood Hill between the camp’s demigods and Luke’s (Charlie Bushnell) rebellion. The season ended like the book does, with a disoriented Thalia reuniting with Annabeth and Grover and meeting Percy. Thalia and Percy are the only two demigods who could fulfill the Great Prophecy that forebodes either the destruction or preservation of Olympus. Given that, Thalia is going to be a major character in Season 3, which has about two months of filming left as of the time of publication.

Smart previously starred in Resident Evil with the late Reddick, who appeared as Zeus in the Percy Jackson Season 1 finale. He was a mentor to Smart, who was cast as Thalia after Reddick’s death in March 2023. She reveals to TV Insider that she covered her Thalia costume in Reddick tributes in Season 2. Here, she opens up about her and Vance’s tributes to Reddick, breaks down the finale, and teases Season 3.

It’s my understanding that the Zeus, Thalia, and Chiron book change was Rick Riordan’s idea. Could you tell me more about that?

Tamara Smart: It’s awesome. To have Rick so involved in the TV show is incredible. It’s always fun to be able to do the fans justice and the producers justice and all the people on set justice, but to be able to do and impress and talk to the originator of your character is something else entirely. The conversations I’ve had with him have been so enlightening and exciting to me. And just to be able to talk to the person who just, number one, created this incredible story, but created this thing that is now such a huge part of my life is really, really something else.

So, we made this change. I didn’t know it was coming until I read Episode 8. And number one, I mean, shock, but number two, I was so emotional. I’ve been quite vocal about how Season 2 is this big healing experience for me as someone who is grieving my mentor. And so I was a wreck. I had to read it a couple more times and be like, OK, this is what we’re doing. This is what we’re doing. And yeah, we talked about it.

Ultimately, it came down to Thalia’s values, especially when it came to Zeus and someone who was supposed to be her family, her father, her blood. We realized the way that Percy portrays him in the books is this ruthless king of Olympus. We wanted some action to solidify that in her mind because obviously the books are from Percy’s POV, but this show is objective, so it’s an interesting change because this is how he actually is. On top of that, there was story/world-building surrounding Season 3, which is where I stop talking. But yeah, the main part of it is that we wanted to really solidify this relationship as unresolved, and there still being a lot of tension.

It also gives Thalia a more compelling reason to hate Olympus, which I think is important for this adaptation.

Yes, 100 percent. On top of that, just generally, Thalia is so loving and so caring, but fool her once and shame on you, and that’s about it. She’s never talking to you again. Even though we did make the change, I don’t think in any world it would’ve stopped her from feeling that way towards him. What’s beautiful about that scene as well is that they have this really tender relationship, but at the root of it is this really, really sad story for Thalia, so a lot of it comes out of this trauma for her and this loss and grief. And as someone who was working through that in the moment also, I don’t know what word to use, but it kind of felt, in a roundabout way, like this very healing moment for me.

Just to make sure I’m on the same page with you, are you referencing Lance Reddick when you say the loss of your mentor?

Yeah.

It’s such a sad loss. I know it must have been difficult. It sounds like [filming Season 2] was a therapeutic experience for you. I also think Courtney B. Vance fits the bill [as Zeus].

One-hundred percent. I agree. It’s one of those difficult things because I obviously willingly auditioned for it, knowing the ground to cover. I booked it, and I was like, OK, well, this is going to be really difficult. And it was. And I thought the whole way through it was just going to be this difficult experience that I wouldn’t ever in a general way heal from. I’ll tell you one of the best experiences that genuinely felt like, and I don’t know if you relate to this, but you can kind of feel your heart patching up a little bit.

The day that we shot with Courtney on Half-Blood Hill, he introduced himself. We had a lovely little afternoon because it was a night shoot. We had been chatting, and I was like, “OK, he seems very sweet. I’m happy about this. ” He walked onto set, and he grabbed the mic from our Second AD, Jim, and he said, “Look, I’m not here to step on anyone’s toes, but we’re not going to do this without acknowledging Lance Reddick. So for now we’re going to take two minutes of silence.” And I burst out crying. It was one of those moments that really felt like he was not taking anything from Lance, but he was just being passed the torch. That was just one of those moments for me that I’ll never forget ever.

Were there any other tributes for Lance that you worked into your performance this season? Maybe in a costume piece or just something you personally did?

You were right on the money there. So actually lots of things. Interestingly, this season, Season 3 that I’m working on right now, there’s been a lot of times that I felt like I was acting like him and my voice almost sounded similar, which has been the weirdest thing because that’s something I never really tried to do in Season 2 because obviously he was a 60-year-old man and I’m a 20-year-old woman, so there’s not much similarity there. But yeah, lots of things in my costume. The leather jacket that I wore in Season 2, I have stars all over the [cuff]. It’s drawn in like a silver Sharpie. I’m sure more stills will come out, and people will see it. If not, I’ll post a picture or something, but it’s stars all over the cuff of the jacket that are drawn on because I have [shows tattoo] — I don’t know if you can see it on here, but a tattoo in memory of him.

Oh, is it stars?

Yeah, on my wrist. I was like, I want to put [the jacket’s drawn-on stars] on the wrist. We had other things to do with my earrings, maybe. I had a necklace that was given to me by his wife [Stephanie Reddick] that had his fingerprint on it and his signature on the other side. I used to keep that in the pocket of my jacket all the time just to feel close to him, and he was there and all of that. And then, probably the last thing I’d say was right at the end of the shoot, I got a lightning bolt tattoo to commemorate the show, and this being the most fateful experience of my life. It ended up fading away, but at the beginning of Season 3, got it redone on my wrist. So I have it right here with me always. I did so many things, but that’s just some of them.

 

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To move on to some more plot stuff, does Thalia sense something different about Percy upon first meeting? How do they feel about each other heading into Season 3?

It’s an interesting dynamic because there’s the book version and then there’s our version, which are very, very similar, but I think that Thalia’s quite different from the book. She’s very, very fun, and she’s very in herself, and she knows if she cares about you, then she is there for you 100%. What’s very interesting about them is that their lives are so intertwined that there is this interesting, almost chemical pull towards each other, especially because of the dreams that Percy’s having in Season 2, and they’re cousins. Everyone is related to each other, but this is a very interesting dynamic, I think. And I talk about it a lot. I relate my relationship with Walker to being like, “I’m the annoying cousin.” We annoy each other.

It begs into question a lot of things for the beginning of Season 3, because we don’t really know what Thalia’s perspective of Percy is. She obviously came before him and had this moment where she was the only forbidden child. And he now knows that experience, but with Thalia being this whisperer of the past, but such a heavy presenting force in every person he’s known in life, it begs into question a lot of things. We also don’t know what Thalia’s perspective on the tree has been like. Is she having dreams? Is she not having dreams? Has she been here? Anyway, I’m going to say too much.

That was my next question. I wonder if she was at all conscious in the tree. Could that be addressed in Season 3?

This has been the biggest question since I joined the show, leading into Season 3, all of the things, because is she the tree? Is she inside the tree? Even in Episode 8, we don’t really know.

Yeah, how does the tree work? We know that she was trapped in it, effectively.

Yeah, because that tree isn’t standing on Half-Blood Hill until she gets turned into it, but then the tree still stands when she comes out of the tree. It’s a whole thing. I genuinely think that I am allowed to say: unconscious to an extent.

It’s a fine thin line that’s been drawn in the sand, and so there are certain things I would say that she carries into the future.

I think with the Zeus reveal, it is kind of saying she never died. He trapped her there.

Yes, definitely.

Because the belief before was that she sacrificed herself, she died, and Zeus created this to honor her, to give her life in a new way, which is the book, right? But now it’s like, no, no, it’s worse.

That’s one of the most interesting things that I’m excited to see about the ending of Season 2 right now. Do people think it would’ve been sadder if Thalia had been dying? Because the way that I viewed it, if you watch it again, you’ll see what I was trying to give, unless they didn’t use those takes. She kind of knows that this is going to happen if she starts to piss him off, I think.

That’s what we were talking about on the day, the fact that obviously she’s now not dying, so there’s a reason that she has to be put in the tree. And obviously, it’s because she’s angered Zeus so much that she’s going to bring her family away from the camp again and not go to camp. I think she is fully aware that this conversation will not end with her leaving.

So maybe she was still making a sacrifice. Interesting.

Yeah.

There’s a Chiron element to this as well. He saw what Zeus did to Thalia. That’s a big twist. She doesn’t know this yet, though. How will that impact their dynamic? Will she learn this about Chiron in Season 3?

It’s definitely a conversation to be had this season. It’s a conversation to be had.

Thalia recognizes Annabeth when she first sees her after her resurrection. We see how she feels about her, which is like, oh my god, so much time has passed. Has Percy met his match in Thalia when it comes to the I’ll Protect Annabeth Chase With My Life contest?

Oh, 100 percent. One word: More. She knew her first, just saying.

She was practically Annabeth’s mom, caretaker. I think he has met his match in many a way.

Speaking of, Walker was in my office earlier today for an interview. In December, I had him interview your costars, so today I asked him to give me a question for you.

Is he making fun of me? OK, go ahead.

Here it is: Walker says, “’Lord Walker’ asks if you feel embarrassed that Percy is so much stronger than you.” You made him a lord? You bought him land?

I did. This has been a whole [thing]. He talked about it on Fallon last night. It was a whole thing. I bought him a patch of land in the Scottish Highlands, but the thing is, I just want to clarify this. His certificate hasn’t arrived yet, and I have threatened to burn it many a time when he misbehaves, and he still doesn’t have it! So we’ll see what happens if he continues to behave this way [smiles]. But my answer to that question would be, we’re going to have to watch Season 3 to find out. That is not 100 percent yet. Not at all.

He was saying that everyone’s joking that Thalia is so much stronger than Percy, and Percy keeps saying, “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

No one’s joking. They’re being serious. I have heard a producer, some characters in the show, say it. I’m just saying.

To wrap up, Luke is a big mystery to Thalia right now. I imagine her feelings are still the same as they were when she was frozen in the tree, but what can you tease about this dynamic in Season 3?

She’s a big ride or die. Her loyalty comes into question hugely in Season 3 when it comes to who to save, who not to save, and such.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Season 3 Premiere, TBA, Disney+