Timothy Omundson has been immortalized. The veteran actor made his Percy Jackson and the Olympians debut in Episode 5, “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers,” gracing the screen as Hephaestus. Omundson’s initial casting took some Percy Jackson fans by surprise considering the god of the forge’s first novelized appearance does not come until the third book. That said, there were traces of Hephaestus in The Lightning Thief text, the story that Percy Jackson Season 1 is based on, which gave way for a natural spot to slot Omundson’s deity in.
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The stars further aligned when considering Omundson’s history with showrunners Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz, a creative relationship and real-life friendship that dates back decades.
“It was just beautiful,” Omundson told ComicBook.com when asked about reuniting with Steinberg and Shotz. “We started in 2006 when they brought me on a show called Jericho. They then brought me onto a show called Human Target, and then I did a voice match for a character on Black Sails. We’ve done several shows together over the years, and they’ve just become, Danny especially, have just become great friends.”
That friendship led to Shotz and Steinberg essentially writing Hephaestus with Omundson specifically in mind, as he did not audition for the character.
“I texted them when The Old Man came out just to sing their praises on how much I love that show,” Omundson said. “Danny said, ‘Hey, we’re now on Percy Jackson. Would you like to come play with us?’ Of course the answer is always yes when these guys call.”
While the answer was yes from the jump, Omundson’s anticipation only exceeded once they began chatting about who Hephaestus is and what his role is to this story.
“Once we started talking about the character, I just could not have been more excited to come and be a part of the show,” Omundson added. “I got to say I was probably a little trepidatious because of how my disability is now.”
Omundson suffered a significant stroke in 2017. This health scare impacted several of Omundson’s motor skills, and doctors feared he would never be able to walk again. Not only did Omundson relearn how to walk, but he shot a movie less than two years after his stroke.
“It’s been seven years now, but I’m still trying to figure out how to act with this new brain and this new body,” Omundson shared. “I really wanted to make sure they knew, ‘Just so you know, I’m not the actor you knew 17 years ago. I’m still trying to figure out my limitations.’ They were just so gracious and kind. I remember the text was, ‘We want you in whatever shape you show up in.’ Right from the get go, that put me at ease.
“The great thing about being so close with Dan and prepping them with my worries about my limitations coming up, Dan would be literally on-set next to me between every take,” Omundson continued. “He was really gracious with me and just assured me that we would not move on until they were happy and I was happy.”
Omundson’s Hephaestus shows up in the Tunnel of Love, confronting Annabeth (Leah Jeffries) as she attempts to free Percy (Walker Scobell) from his throne trap.
“That was all I shot. Pretty much everything we shot was on the screen,” Omundson said of his Percy Jackson Season 1 scene. “It’s always a relief to see that after watching the finished product.”
The scene is question runs for about three minutes, and features limited dialogue from Hephaestus himself. Much of the exchange is carried by Jeffries’s Annabeth, who gives a powerful monologue about bringing down the “eat or be eaten” mentality that the Olympians lead with. As she is speaking, cameras turn to Omundson, who showcases an expression of pain and regret with undertones of hope for a better future.
This moment in particular especially resonated with fans, as social media praised Omundson for telling hours-worth of story with just one look.
“One of the things with my disability, because of the stroke part of my face I feel like is not as animated as it used to be. It’s really an Achilles heel for me as an actor. Much of my work has been about expressing things through my eyes and my face, and I’m just a little more limited now,” Omundson said. “To hear that is really incredibly gratifying.
“What he was thinking in that moment was really just how he sees that there’s hope for the next generation,” Omundson added. “She doesn’t need to have the same experience that he did, which was being such an outsider in his family and seeing how his family, his siblings can be such horrible people to each other.”
That family is one Hephaestus has a rich off-screen history with, Ares especially.
“They’re polar opposite. I can just imagine what a bully he was to Hephaesuts, his disabled little brother, over the years,” Omundson said of the god of war. “I think there’s got to be a ton of animosity between the two of them. I would really hope, if the show comes back and I’m lucky enough to be invited back, I would really love to explore that relationship between the two of them. I think it’d be ripe with backstory and subtext.”
Omundson hopes that that backstory does not solely live off-screen either.
“I would love to see Hephaestus and Ares in a room together. The sibling rivalry with all these characters, what that dinner table would be like in Olympus would be amazing,” Omundson added. “It’d be like the dinner table at Yellowstone or Succession. Ares has been beating up on Hephaestus for probably his entire existence. Now that Hephaestus has fully realized that he is a more powerful being, I think Ares would get his comeuppance in some way.”
Hephaestus briefly hints at his past with Ares, telling Annabeth that “despite what [his] brother may have told [her], [he is] not someone to be pushed around.”
“We talked a lot about the emotional aspects of what was going on in this character’s mind. Even though I might have had a lot of dialogue to express it with, Danny really helped me with putting it in my mind,” Omundson said. “The looks and dialogues that were there were super loaded because he was able to give me so much that maybe wasn’t necessarily in the script, which is just an incredible gift for an actor to have.”
When Annabeth’s monologue is finished, Hephaestus pauses and internalizes it. After giving it some thought, he frees Percy from the throne trap.
“This is my niece and I’m going to take care of her because she really earned it,” Omundson said of how Hephaestus feels about Annabeth. “I don’t think a lot of people get to Hephaestus like Annabeth did. Hephaestus does want their quest to succeed. He doesn’t want a war anymore than they do.”
That niece-uncle connection is due to Annabeth being a daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Before exiting the Tunnel of Love, Hephaestus promises to “put in a good word” with his sister for Annabeth
“He’ll try and move Athena the way that Annabeth moved Hephaestus,” Omundson shared. “That she is potentially the best of us. She can atone for all of our sins of the past.”
The Olympian skies are the limit for Omundson in the Percy Jackson world moving forward. In the books, Hephaestus makes appearances in The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian while also playing a prominent part in sequel series The Heroes of Olympus.
That said, as evident by his Percy Jackson Season 1 scene, there is no telling what the god of craftsmen could be written into next. If Omundson has any say, it will involve sharing the screen with Hermes.
“I absolutely want to work with Lin. Any actor who’s ever been on stage who says they don’t want to work with Lin-Manuel Miranda is either lying or an idiot,” Omundson said. “We’ve had a very brief interaction. I got to see Hamilton years ago and got to go backstage. It was the greatest moment of my family’s lives. My daughters were out of their minds. We got to go backstage and Lin walked up and said, ‘Hey, we heard you were coming!’ I almost fell over. He could not have been more nice. He took all the time in the world, answering every one of my daughter’s questions, and he just could not have been sweeter. He liked one of my tweets once about Percy Jackson and I danced around the room.”
New episodes of Percy Jackson and the Olympians premiere on Disney+ every Tuesday at 9 PM ET.
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Screenshot from Disney's <em>Percy Jackson and the Olympians</em> D23 presentation
