"It hasn't been long since the 16-year-old actor auditioned for the role of Percy Jackson, the lead of Rick Riordan's Greek mythology-inspired book series and the Harry Potter to swaths of loyal Zillennials (this writer included). Scobell was only 12 when Riordan hand-picked him to play the Son of Poseidon, but so much has changed since - he starred alongside Ryan Reynolds in The Adam Project, a film that inducted him into the new class of promising young actors; and he's acted opposite Hollywood veterans like Michael Douglas and Owen Wilson. But, most importantly, he's lived up to being the face of Disney's long-awaited, blessedly book-accurate Percy Jackson adaptation."
"Between promoting the second season of the show, shooting Season 3, and school responsibilities, he's had little time to slow down, but Scobell revels in that chaos all the same. "I don't really get anxious," Scobell tells Inverse over Zoom. "I don't even think about trying to get rid of it... Anxiety just means that you care.""
"And Scobell cares deeply for Percy Jackson. He speaks about the books with surprising specificity when he calls in from London, his answers thoughtful and measured despite the whirlwind of a five-city promotional tour. On that level, it's easy to see why Riordan handpicked him for the role: This is an actor who speaks about the struggles of adaptation with the specificity of a producer. It's not until he starts telling silly stories about the movies he watched as a child - specifically, being duped into trying Turkish Delight after obsessively watching The Chronicles of Narnia - that I see the real parallels with Percy. Like the Son of Poseidon, Scobell is also just a kid... a kid with a lot on his shoulders."
Walker Scobell, now 16, was hand-picked by Rick Riordan at age 12 to play Percy Jackson. He gained wider recognition starring alongside Ryan Reynolds in The Adam Project and has acted opposite Michael Douglas and Owen Wilson. He is the face of Disney's book-accurate Percy Jackson adaptation and balances promoting Season 2, filming Season 3, and school responsibilities. He embraces the resulting chaos and views anxiety as a sign that one cares. He speaks about the books and adaptation details with producer-like specificity. Childhood anecdotes, like being duped into trying Turkish Delight after watching The Chronicles of Narnia, underscore his youthful parallels with Percy.
Read at Inverse
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]