Fans have finally been introduced to Walker Scobell's take on Percy Jackson in Percy Jackson and the Olympians (PJO), and the actor's age is surprisingly close to that of the source material.
Streaming now on Disney+, Rick Riordan's iconic young adult book series has come to life in the form of a TV show for the first time, telling the story of The Lightning Thief novel.
The Lightning Thief (and the rest of the PJO) novels have been mainstays of preteen literature since their debut in 2008, allowing young readers to see themselves in this sweeping adventure into the world of Greek mythology.
Percy Jackson's TV Show Age
The main character from Rick Riordan's beloved young adult books and Walker Scobell's Percy from Disney+'s Percy Jackson and the Olympians look to be about the same age.
In Riordan's first Percy Jackson novel, The Lightning Thief Percy is 12 years old.
This is roughly the same as Walker Scobell's take on the character in the TV show.
This is a massive departure from the Percy Jackson film released in 2010. In the big-screen take on the universe, Logan Lerman's Percy was much older, being 16 by the time the events of the book occur.
Scobell is not 12 years old like his on-screen counterpart. The Adam Project actor was 12 when he first auditioned for the show in 2021 before being introduced as Percy for the first time in 2022 at 13.
The actor is now 14 and - just like Percy does in the books - has grown up a bit since he filmed the Percy Jackson series, speaking with a bit deeper tenor to his voice and looking a tad older on red carpet events for Season 1.
Will the Percy Jackson Disney+ Show Age up Percy?
Percy Jackson actor Walker Scobell may no longer be the same age as his on-screen counterpart, but that is okay.
Percy also ages throughout the book series, and given how early Disney and the Percy Jackson team got started with the actor, he will mostly be in line with where the character was in the beloved book series.
In Riordan's Lightning Thief sequel, Sea of Monsters, Percy is 13, with the character eventually growing to age 16 by the time the fifth and final book (The Last Olympian) ends.
Disney has not yet greenlighted Season 2, but given the positive momentum the series has coming out of its first couple of episodes, it will likely get the rubber stamp and be fast-tracked into production.
Seeing as Beck Riordan (executive producer on the series and author Rick Riordan's wife) has teased there is a "bible" ready with an outline for Season 2 (per Deadline), then there may be no need to age Percy up throughout the series.
Scobell is close enough in age to the character that if (like Warner Bros. did with the Harry Potter franchise) the studio can keep a consistent near-yearly production cycle going for the show, then Scobell will be somewhere around 18 or 19 by the time they shoot Season 5 (which would assumedly adapt the final book).
That is close enough to the 16-year-old mark of the character set at the end of the mainline books, keeping everything true to the coming-of-age story at Percy Jackson and the Olympians' heart.
New episodes of Percy Jackson and the Olympians stream every Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+.
