"Percy Jackson" Season 3 Scene Premieres at New York Comic-Con During Walker Scobell Panel
The Titan’s Curse is nearly upon us, with the third season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians premiering November 20th. The show’s lead actor made his New York Comic-Con debut tonight at “Inside Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 3: A Conversation with Walker Scobell,” moderated by TV Insider’s Damian Holbrook, but the real star of the panel was a never-before-seen scene from the upcoming season premiere.
The scene opens as Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia walk into a Westover Hall school dance with Daft Punk’s “One More Time” filling the gym. Thalia spots Bianca di Angelo on the dance floor in a green hat, while Nico sits in the stands, absorbed in something he’s holding. Grover senses a monster nearby and reminds everyone the Mist is concealing it, so nothing in the room can be taken at face value. The goal is to get the di Angelo siblings out fast without putting them in more danger, since whoever is hunting them may already know who the demigods are, even if not who they came for.
That leads to a quick disagreement over who pairs with whom. Percy seems to want to team up with Thalia, but she would rather have Grover’s senses on the monster hunt, which leaves Percy and Annabeth on extraction duty.
Then the DJ, Ms. Gottschalk, slows things down with Billy Joel’s “She’s Always a Woman,” and Annabeth drags Percy onto the dance floor. It plays like a sweet moment, but it’s also tactical: as the two spin, they get a full 360-degree view of the room.
Mid-rotation, a bully snatches whatever Nico was looking at, and Bianca steps in to defend her little brother. Percy then spots the monster in the opposite corner. By the time the dance turns Annabeth around, it’s gone.
The Conversation
Most of the 45-minute panel was involved Holbrook asking Walker Scobell questions about his life, plus the past, present, and future of Percy Jackson. Scobell talked about his stage roots, including playing Michael Banks in a school production of Mary Poppins, which made him want to try wire work. His initial acting dreams were to become a Marvel superhero, a fitting reveal for a comic convention.
That acting journey led Walker to his first big film, The Adam Project, with Ryan Reynolds. Fittingly, he was reading Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase while making that film, which is when he first auditioned for Percy Jackson. He sent in a self-tape from Vancouver, then heard nothing for about a year before a chemistry read, the offer, and filming starting six months later. The chemistry read itself was a marathon, with scenes opposite multiple Grover and Annabeth candidates.
In his personal life, Scobell recently got his driver’s license and has become his younger brother's chauffeur. Directing may be in his future someday, though between the series and school, he says he doesn’t have much free time right now.
On to Season 3, there was a 10-month break between wrapping Season 2 and filming starting on Season 3. Scobell shared that the series finds a slightly different path through the story than the book does, without spoiling how. On the first day of shooting, he, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri improvised a bit of trading insults, and he hopes that moment makes the final cut.
He also teased a garage scene that was filmed near the end of the shoot and says it looks great on screen. Many of The Titan’s Curse’s locations were built as massive sets on neighboring stages, so one part of the cast might be filming in the junkyard while another was shooting a scene next door. Hearing a crash from the other stage was common, and the cast would compare how beat up everyone looked at lunch.
This season involves a lot of water work, but Scobell said continuity isn’t as tricky as it was in Season 1, since Percy can now flick the moisture away quickly. He also teased a scene this season that puts the characters in a situation unlike anything they have faced before. He didn’t want to spoil it, but said he simply committed to it and came out the other side understanding the moment in a new way.
Rick Riordan was on set for parts of the season, including the finale. Scobell says the author is especially good at making newcomers feel welcome, and Scobell sometimes gets to read early drafts of Riordan’s new books.
Asked about new cast joining this season, Walker praised Levi Christopulos as the perfect Nico. He recalled an early take in which Christopulos gave a tiny shake of his head in response to one of Percy’s lines, a small choice that told Scobell everything he needed to know about the casting.
Unexpectedly, there was also an honorable mention for Daniel Diemer’s new role on Heated Rivalry. The actor who played Percy’s cyclops half-brother Tyson has joined the cast of Canada’s hockey romance show as Ryan Price. Scobell called himself the most excited person in the building about it and described Diemer as one of the best actors he knows.
Season 3 also leans on a deep bench of comedic guest stars, which Scobell admits makes it hard to keep Percy looking confused and annoyed. He says Kate McKinnon never delivered a take that wasn’t funny, so when the camera was on her, he would cover his face and just try to listen to the words. He has similar memories of Season 2’s taxi scene with the Gray Sisters, played by Sandra Bernhard, Margaret Cho, and Kristen Schaal.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 3 premieres November 20th with two episodes weekly through December 11th on Disney+ and Hulu.