The Adam Project and Secret Headquarters actor Walker Scobell says, in some ways, his real life has paralleled that of the teen demi-god he plays in Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
“We wrapped in January, then, that summer, I started swimming again. I’ve done that every year since I was a kid. And, so, that kind of kept me in shape a little bit,” Scobell, who plays Poseidon’s son Percy in the Disney+ fantasy series, told UPI in a recent phone interview.
“We didn’t get the green light for Season 2 until we were way closer to filming it. So, I just went about my life. I joined the track team. It was my freshman year of high school and I kind of just went back to school like Percy did. So, in a way, that prepared me, as well.”
Scobell, 16, said it took a beat for him, his friends and classmates to figure out how to navigate his newfound fame.
“It’s such a weird thing to deal with it. I don’t even know how to explain it,” he said.
“I had a lot of friends telling me: ‘Dude, get off my phone. I keep seeing you. My parents keep trying to get me to watch Percy and it’s weird. I can’t watch it because you’re in it,'” Scobell added.
“It’s more funny to me than anything. I think that’s the weirdest part. It’s hard for me to watch myself. I feel like it’s even weirder for people that have grown up with me to watch me playing someone so similar to myself in these weird situations.”
Season 1, which premiered in 2023, saw Percy discover his true identity and befriend fellow demi-gods Annabeth (Leah Jeffries) and Grover (Aryan Simhadri) at a special summer camp for kids with extraordinary powers.
Season 2, airing now, picks up about a year later.
Grover is off on his own adventure, while Annabeth is keeping secrets from Percy in an effort to protect him.
“Throughout the quest of Season 1, they kind of developed this bond and they started to trust each other very strongly,” Scobell said of Percy and Annabeth.
“Between Seasons 1 and 2, they both kind of go off in their own directions a little bit, on their own paths a little bit. When they come back and they meet each other, it’s like they both have lived different lives,” he explained.
“And, then, Annabeth is in this moral dilemma with keeping the great prophecy from Percy, so he doesn’t make decisions that are impacted by it. But also, it kind of messes up their mutual trust with each other.”
Also returning to camp with Percy and Annabeth is Tyson, Percy’s Cyclops half-brother, was introduced this season.
“Annabeth is the daughter of Athena. She’s very smart. She’s very wise. But, in a weird way, I feel like Tyson is maybe the most wise character this season. That’s all thanks to Daniel and the way that he plays a lot of these lines,” Scobell said. “Daniel kind of really brought this season together, in my opinion.”
Percy is known for his loyalty, but the admirable trait doesn’t always serve him well.
“That’s why Annabeth wants to keep the prophecy from him in the first place. She knows he won’t hesitate to make decisions that could mess a lot of big things up for the people he cares about,” Scobell said.
“So, I think that’s kind of where Percy and Annabeth run into their problem at the beginning of the season.”
Scobell described Simhadri as one of his best friends and said its was odd not sharing the screen together again until the end of Season 2.
“Having him for that month of prep and then him just disappearing for like a month or two was really weird for me,” Scobell said.
“Daniel was also there and he really picked up where Aryan left off,” he added. “It wasn’t too bad without him, but we still really, really missed him.”
The show also sees Percy getting to know his parents — human Sally (Virginia Kull) and sea god Poseidon (Toby Stephens) — on a more mature level.
“I could hang out with Virginia a good couple weeks every season overall and Virginia has two kids herself and she’s super-sweet. In a lot of ways, she reminds me of my own mom. So, I think it’s really easy to kind of just connect with her right away,” Scobell said.
“But, with Toby, I feel like, since he only comes in one day a year, I really pay attention to him and I really look up to him in a lot of ways. So, in a way, that’s what Percy and Poseidon’s bond is starting to become.”
New episodes air on Disney+ Wednesdays.
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