Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Disney+ show renewed for second season

The hit Disney+ show Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been renewed for a second season.

The long-awaited first season of the mythical teen series, based on American author Rick Riordan’s hugely popular book series, drew to a close last Tuesday (30 January).

Like the novels, the TV show follows 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell) coming to terms with his newfound divine powers when the sky god Zeus (Lance Reddick) accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt.

Disney+ CEO Bob Iger recently announced that season one of the mythical show has been streamed for over 110 million hours across both Disney+ and Hulu.

The series garnered favourable reviews from critics and fans alike and boasts a 92 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.2 rating on IMDB.

Last week, series co-creators Jon Steinburg and Dan Shotz gave an update on fan-favourite character Zeus, following the death of Lance Reddick.

Veteran actor Reddick, who was known for his roles on HBO’s hit series The Wire and the John Wick action films, died “suddenly” from natural causes on 17 March 2023. He was 60.

Showrunner Steinberg told Variety it would be a “tall order” to replace Reddick who “embodied” Zeus, while paying tribute to the “regal” actor.

Moving forward, he added, that it’s difficult to have two different actors play the same character, but “life happens, and sometimes that’s where you are”.

“It’s a tall order for anybody to try to live up to the performance of somebody else and, like Dan said, step into a family and not be so haunted by the shadow of this person you’re replacing.” Steinburg said. “We wanted Zeus to be someone who needs to be constantly convincing himself that everything is fine and under control.

“That felt like it came with a little bit of theatre, a little bit of projection of his own authority, but also a sense of real presence.

“When you take all of those ideas and start looking for a person who embodies them, they just start to look like Lance. He is so – was so regal, and able to convey so many different things at the same time,” he continued.

He also described Reddick as “the sweetest person and great with the kids he’s acting with” on Percy Jackson, adding that “he went way too soon”.

In the season one finale, Reddick had an extensive scene with series lead Walker Scobell, as Percy faces Zeus atop Mount Olympus.

After the episode, there is a title card that reads: “In loving memory of Lance Reddick.”

The co-creators also said they constantly kept in touch with Reddick after filming wrapped up and that “it was pretty crushing” hearing about his death.