I got super super into Percy Jackson recently, after my sister’s teacher told her to read it. She ended up loving it, and forced me to read it too. Since I was little, I’ve always liked Greek mythology, which might be why I liked this series so much. I watched this show way after it came out, after I read all of the books. My friends tried to get me to watch this a long time ago, but I didn’t until after I read and liked the books. I watched the movies too, but I’m not even going to say anything about the movies. They were okay, I liked the casting, but the plot of the movie was just… I mean, it wasn’t even about the lightning bolt, it was a quest to get pearls. I couldn’t even finish the movie, but basically I liked the book and the show a whole lot better.
SPOILERS COMING UP!! If you don’t want me to spoil the show then stop here! I’m not going to have a whole lot of spoilers, but if I do, you can’t say I didn’t warn you! This whole post is going to be about the casting and the characters so if you don’t like that, then click out of this article.
So Percy Jackson is played by Walker Scobell, who’s only acted in a few other things before. These few things did include a Ryan Reynolds movie, and a Owen Wilson movie. He played the lead role in both movies, Secret Headquarters and the Adam Project, so he must be a pretty good actor. I always imagined Percy almost the same way I imagined Harry Potter to be. Based off looks alone, I probably wouldn’t have casted Walker as Percy, BUT I think he did a really good job, and he really delivered all of Percy’s one-liners well. He did really good in the action scenes, and he made me laugh exactly when he was supposed to. When they were filming this show, he looked about eleven or twelve, which is how old Percy was supposed to be. In the second season, which should be released in 2025, he will be around fifteen or sixteen, which is older than Percy was in the second book, Sea of Monsters. His voice got so much deeper than in the first season, which might be a little bit unrealistic to Percy’s age, but it’s okay, it’s not that important.
Annabeth is played by Leah Sava Jefferies. In the book, Annabeth is blonde, but Leah did such a good job, I don’t even care. Is she how I pictured Annabeth? Not really, but she still did so so good as Annabeth. Annabeth is literally my favorite character and Leah definitely did the character justice. She was perfectly sarcastic and sassy exactly where she needed to be. She has been in a movie with Idris Elba, and a movie with Shay Mitchell. She seems to be a supporting character in both movies, although I haven’t seen either of them. She recently just turned 15, but she looked around twelve or eleven when they were filming. It was released in 2023, so that means they filmed in 2021-2022, when she would’ve been twelve or thirteen if I’m doing my math right. Again, a little bit older than Annabeth in the books, but it’s completely fine, as long as she gets the character right, I’ll be happy.
Grover is played by Aryan Simhadri, which is pretty close to how I imagined him while reading the books. He almost might be the most similar character to the books. I think Grover is really funny, and Aryan’s goat walk was pretty good. Aryan has been in a bunch of Disney movies and shows, like Cheaper by the Dozen and Spin. He’s actually eighteen right now, putting him at around sixteen or seventeen in the first season. This is pretty true to the story, although I think he looks younger than that.
Luke is played by Charlie Bushnell. When I watched the show, I didn’t realize that he was Asian until one of my friends told me he was. I didn’t expect Luke to be Asian but I also didn’t know that he was Asian until way later. I think the scar looked really good, and he played Luke and his anger really well. He was mysterious, but he also seemed really kind in the beginning. He was in another Disney Channel show called Diary of a Future President, which I never watched, but I heard it was really good. He’s twenty, so he was around seventeen when the first season was filmed. I’m pretty sure Luke is supposed to be around fifteen or sixteen. He wasn’t what I expected Luke to look like at all, but now that I’ve watched the whole show, I can see why he was casted.
Clarisse is played by Dior Goodjohn. She looks like she would be such a nice person in person, but she played Clarisse so well. There was this one scene where she goes after Percy and tries to basically stab him with an electric spear, and she is so scary there, like it seems like Walker’s fear is a little too real. For some reason, I imagined Clarisse to be a ginger when I read the books, but then I saw the show, and now whenever I read the books, Dior is what I see. She’s been in Are You Afraid of the Dark, and while I’ve never seen it, I know it was very popular a few years ago, so it must be good. Also, can I just add that she is an amazing singer?? Her single, Focus, was so good, I put it on my favorites playlist. She’s eighteen, which puts her at fifteen during the first season, which I think is around Clarisse’s age in the books.
So, yes! This is the main PJO cast, complete with their ages, past movies and TV shows, and how I think they are in comparison to their characters. Overall, I can’t complain about anyone’s performance at all; they all did wonderful with their characters. The best performance I would have to say is Leah as Annabeth, although I think I’m biased because Annabeth was always my favorite character. I absolutely love this show, and you already know I’m going to be writing about the second season when it comes out, which should be sometime in 2025, sooooo see you guys then!!