‘Percy Jackson’ author announces ‘Godly’ new additions Lance Reddick and Toby Stephens

Folks who have been patiently waiting for the Percy Jackson TV series are in luck, because the author of the source material has just confirmed a number of key cast members who have joined the series – and as you may know, they aren’t insignificant names.

Rick Riordan took to his personal blog to confirm the casting of Lance Reddick in the role of Zeus, and Toby Stephens as Poseidon, while offering up brief character biographies for both. 

The character biographies will be nothing new to fans of Riordan’s novels, but the author did offer up a little bit of insight into why he considered them perfect fits for the role, citing both Reddick and Stephens’ “godly aura.” He says of Reddick:

“He has so much gravitas he could pull planets out of alignment, and when he makes his displeasure known to Percy Jackson… wow, wait until you see that scene. If you were Zeus, king of the gods, and you could be anyone you wanted, you would definitely choose to be Lance Reddick.”

Of course, fans who know him from his previous works such a The Wire and John Wick, and even his works across the video game medium like Destiny 2 and his lead role in an upcoming Hellboy game, recognize that Riordan is on the mark with this description. As for Stephens:

“Toby is incredible on screen. When he delivered some of Poseidon’s iconic lines, I got chills. And seeing him and Walker together, you can absolutely believe they are father and son. Not many actors have the sheer power to stand toe-to-toe with one another and convince you they are the manifestations of the sky and the sea…”

Following his confirmation of these two juggernaut castings, Riordan spent the rest of the post detailing where the Percy Jackson TV series is at in terms of production, and says that principal photography is more or less winding down at this stage, with the author even having seen early directors cuts of the first six episodes.

Riordan also recently took to Mastodon to tease some fantastic scenes involving the show’s God of War, former WWE wrestler Adam “Edge” Copeland. Meanwhile, original Percy Jackson actor Logan Lerman shared his thoughts on his replacement in the titular role.