Disney+’s Percy Jackson Adds New Actor in Mysterious Role

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is winding down production on its first season. The serialized adaptation of Rick Riordan’s best-selling novels began shooting this past June in Vancouver, spending a bulk of its filming time on an Industrial Light & Magic StageCraft. What began with a core trio of Walker Scobell (The Adam Project), Leah Jeffries (Beast), and Aryan Simhadri (Cheaper by the Dozen) has grown to a full-blown ensemble that boasts talent from Broadway’s stage to WWE’s squared circle. Percy Jackson Season 1 now has the likes of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Adam “Edge” Copeland, Timothy Omundson, and Jessica Parker Kennedy among its ranks.

While most of the Season 1 cast has been revealed by now, another name has snuck onto the show’s IMDb page. Actor Ryan Cowie (Monster Trucks) is credited for two episodes of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Cowie is simply listed as “chaperone.”

The book that Season 1 is based on, The Lightning Thief, has no shortage of characters that operate as chaperones, but the most prominent ones have already been cast. Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) is set to play Mrs. Dodds while Glynn Turman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) will bring Mr. Brunner to life. Both Dodds and Brunner are decoy names, as they are actually Greek mythology characters Alecto and Chiron in disguise.

It’s possible that Cowie’s chaperone is just that: an actual chaperone from Yancy Academy that is unaware of the larger forces at play. That, or his chaperone could be yet another decoy, but one specifically created for the series. After all, producer Rick Riordan has emphasized that there will be original elements brought into the Disney+ show.

Beyond Cowie’s casting, fans have at least two more names to look forward to. Riordan has confirmed that both Poseidon and Zeus will be in Season 1, but noted that he is not sure of when those roles will be announced.

“Still to come for this season: the Big Three, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus,” Riordan wrote last month. “When those parts will be announced publicly, I’m not sure yet.”

Since that update, Jay Duplass (Industry) has been confirmed as Hades.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has roughly one month left of production. The show is tentatively set to wrap at the end of January 2023 and is expected to stream on Disney+ sometime in 2024.