'Percy Jackson' cast teases Season 2, cheers fandom: 'This show's hitting'

SAN DIEGO – Walker Scobell has been staring at author Rick Riordan’s face on the back of “Percy Jackson” books since third grade. Now the teenager gets to see it all the time at work.

“Great for me, probably terrible for him,” said Scobell, who plays the title character in Disney+’s fantasy adventure series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” Riordan is a co-creator and executive producer on the show, so he’s a frequent presence, usually being interrogated by cast members.

“I don’t remember asking anything about his personal life. Just about the books, which I feel terrible about,” Scobell said. “I have so many questions, and I still have. The personal questions will have to wait.” 

That’s because a second season of “Percy Jackson” is on the way. Cast and creators were on hand during a Thursday “Percy” presentation at Comic-Con, the pop-culture convention at the San Diego Convention Center, to talk about the experience of the first season and tease what’s next.

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Percy, the son of Poseidon, goes on a quest to locate Zeus’ master bolt and stave off a war between the gods in the first season, plus finds best friends in Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries) and Grover (Aryan Simhadri). 

The upcoming second season is based on Riordan’s second book in his series, “The Sea of Monsters,” “so it’s going to be very wet,” said executive producer Jonathan E. Steinberg. The show has also cast Daniel Diemer ("Under the Bridge") as Tyson, a shy, awkward and big-hearted cyclops who’s also Percy’s half brother. “You guys are going to love him,” Scobell said to a cheering crowd of fans.

Playing the daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom, “was challenging in the most amazing ways possible,” Jeffries said. “I liked how I did in the first season but definitely for what’s to come, I’m going to show you so much more of what I can do.”

Because he plays a satyr, Simhadri spent a good amount of time in the first season watching videos of goats walking and then figuring out how to walk like one. That new skill followed him home: “I would do it walking around and my mom would call me out on it: ‘You’re not on set anymore,’ ” he said.

Adam Copeland, the longtime pro wrestler who plays god of war Ares, is impressed with his young co-stars’ work ethic. “In between takes, they go do homework,” he said. “They have school, and I’m just trying to remember what my line is.”

Copeland has also seen the “Percy Jackson” fandom up close, when he’s approached and noticed by grandparents and their grandkids alike.

“I started having teenage girls come up to me again. That hasn’t happened since the ‘90s,” Copeland said. “This show’s hitting.”