Summary

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff chats with the stars of Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians for Season 2 at San Diego Comic-Con 2025.

Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri, Dior Goodjohn, Charlie Bushnell, and Daniel Diemer discuss how they’ve grown with their characters this season.

The crew talks about diving into more complex storylines, the magic of becoming a Cyclops, becoming series regulars, and the moments of joy they shared on set together.

Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians is set to evolve the story into the next chapter, tackling adapting Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters next to bring an even higher-stakes story to the screen for Season 2. Set to premiere on the streamer in December, Season 2 reunites Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri as the core cast of Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, once again placing them at the center of chaos that could mean the end of the world without their intervention. This season, the characters of Luke (Charlie Bushnell) and Clarisse (Dior Goodjohn) also step more into the spotlight to bring deeper nuance into the narrative, while Percy’s half-brother, Tyson (Daniel Diemer), presents new challenges for Percy to face in the wake of losing his mom, played by Virginia Kull. At the Collider Interview Studio at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, Perri Nemiroff had a chance to interview the team behind the series about how Season 2 allowed them to up their game as actors, particularly for Bushnell and Goodjohn, who graduate to series regulars after Season 1. Diemer digs into the movie magic of bringing a “baby monster” like Tyson to the screen, and the cast also reflect on the days on set that brought them the most joy.
‘Percy Jackson’ Season 2 Explores “More Complex Ideas and Situations”

With more serious storylines, the actors have grown with their characters.

PERRI NEMIROFF: Walker, Leah, and Aryan, I’m going to start with the three of you. I’ll preface this question by saying you deliver so, so big in Season 1, but I love how with every new season, you’re able to test yourselves even more. Can each of you give me an example of something in the Season 2 storyline that challenged you to up your game as an actor? LEAH SAVA JEFFRIES: I definitely feel like my acting expanded and stuff. I feel like, even from my own personality when I was younger, obviously not right now, I’m very bubbly and stuff, but before I got the part for Annabeth, my personality was more like Annabeth in the first season, more stubborn, more low down. Basically, more and more, I started to get out of that when I came into the industry more. It was kind of fun to also expand that when it came to Season 2. And I’ve said this probably a thousand times now, and you’ll hear it again, but Annabeth is starting to open up more. You see a different side of her this season. So, it was definitely a big challenge and a lot of changes, too, because you’re coming from the first season where it was the three of us. Also, she had Luke, and then Grover was there, and Thalia was alive… Well, she was a tree, but yeah. DIOR GOODJOHN: [Laughs] She was a tree. JEFFRIES: She was an alive tree. She was a healthy tree at the time. GOODJOHN: She was doing good. As a tree. JEFFRIES: So, coming into the second season, it’s definitely a big change, and I love the challenge. Especially, shout out to Mr. Andrew [McIllroy]. He is amazing.

Image by Alex Cobian

Love it! Who wants to jump in next? WALKER SCOBELL: Every season, the writers also up their game. So, our characters deal with more complex ideas and situations. Like my mom is gone. That was a big one. She’s gone. I don’t know how to explain it. You know what I mean? It’s very cut and dry, I guess. ARYAN SIMHADRI: There’s not a lot of nuance to that situation. I know what you mean. Each season, obviously, because our characters are going through adolescence, they’re facing more nuanced problems. Like Walker was saying, his mom, in his eyes, is basically dying. It’s very cut and dry. There’s not a lot of nuance to that situation. His mom dies, and then it gets complex. SCOBELL: We’ve said that so many times. [Laughs] SIMHADRI: His mom dies, and it’s not very nuanced until more information is released to Percy. But in Season 2, from the get-go, there’s so much stuff happening, let alone this new factor in Percy’s life, Tyson.
Luke and Clarisse Take On Even Bigger Roles This Season

“Everyone is going to have a twisted reason to actually love her by the end of Season 2, which I’m excited for.”

Charlie and Dior, you might have known this early on, but this is your very first season as series regulars, which is a really big deal. Can you tell me a little bit about what getting that opportunity on Percy Jackson means to you, and what having a bigger role in the production helped you achieve this season that you couldn’t during the last? CHARLIE BUSHNELL: I think something that was so helpful this season was that we got to be a part of the prep, which was amazing. GOODJOHN: Yes. It was life-changing. BUSHNELL: We had about three weeks of prep before we started filming, where we were just doing stunts and working with our acting coach, Andrew, reading scripts, and just really doing team bonding and really getting a better understanding of our characters and building that chemistry and breaking the ice then, so that by the time we started filming, there was no ego involved. We all just felt super comfortable with each other. It was great. And just hanging around. Even if we weren’t working, we came to set a lot because we wanted to be there. GOODJOHN: It’s true. Dude, this year was life-changing for me. It changed my view on the way that I approach my work and the way that I approach my life in general. We’ll say it all so many times: Andrew is like the most amazing person ever, as a mentor, as an acting coach, everything. But I think the big thing for all of us, especially you and I, Charlie, this season, was we really got to kind of peel back the layers and dive super deep and get into the reasons why. Because there are no villains. Everybody actually is justified in what they’re doing if you take a look at the mechanics of why they are the way they are. What I’m super excited for this season, too, that I got to really, really work in prep, is Clarisse’s arc and understanding her heart and everything.

Image by Alex Cobian

In your journey to understanding her more, what would you say is the biggest difference between how you pictured her when you first took the role and who she’s become in Season 2? GOODJOHN: Well, I remember in my audition process, I had done a lot of research on Clarisse, because there’s not much on her in the books to really pull from. I went to Riordan Wiki and just everywhere that I could possibly go to find out information about her. So, I knew about her arc coming on to Season 1, but the biggest difference that I think people are gonna have in seeing Clarisse is that she really is, in Season 2, a fully actualized and rounded human being, and she has her reasons. You get to dive into her psychology and the things that she’s been through in her life. I had this one scene with Adam [Copeland], which was one of my favorite scenes to shoot all season, where you can just see years of trauma laid out right in front of you, and it’s done in such a beautiful way. It was written in such a beautiful way that you finally get to see her and understand her, and I relate to her so much personally. That’s one of the big reasons why I was so excited to take her as a role. I think many people are gonna be able to relate. We all love to hate her. I love to hate her, as well. She’s great to hate. But I think everyone is going to have a twisted reason to actually love her by the end of Season 2, which I’m excited for.
This ‘Percy Jackson’ Newcomer Shares the Movie Magic of Bringing Tyson to Screen

“I hope they release Tyson Time.”

Daniel, I’m a total nerd for movie magic, so I have to ask you to walk me through the behind-the-scenes of what is necessary in order to be a Cyclops in the finished product. DANIEL DIEMER: Honestly, they made it so easy for me. There’s so little in terms of the technicalities. There are no dots, there’s no nothing. I’m just appearing like this on the day, and all the magic is done after. I don’t have special eyelines, they don’t have to look at me at different parts around, or look higher or lower or anything, or with a specific eye. Everything’s just us interacting with one another. GOODJOHN: Tell them about Tyson Time. It’s so great. DIEMER: Basically, after each scene, so much of how they take my two eyes and combine them into one is based off of them being able to get all the lighting, the environment, and everything, so that when they’re doing all the computer-generated effects, or all their magic, they’re able to have as much information as possible to use. So, at the end of each scene, I have to go in there, and I just get bombarded with questions, and I have to just turn around and look all over the place so they can see my eyes from every single angle, and we got some fun stories out of me. That process is pretty incredible. It just seems like it makes it so seamless for you. DIEMER: That’s exactly it. The seamlessness is amazing because it just allows me to kind of enter into the complexity of his character. Especially playing a character that’s like a baby monster. That’s a big jump in certain aspects from who I normally am. So, it just gave me a lot of freedom. SCOBELL: I hope they release Tyson Time. GOODJOHN: They totally should do that. DIEMER: I hope not. SCOBELL: They would ask some weird questions because they’d need to get the emotion he was feeling on the day out of him.

Image by Alex Cobian

GOODJOHN: Andrew asked the most wild questions. SIMHADRI: Like about Tyson’s past. BUSHNELL: It’s really cool for all of us. DIEMER: Yeah. Again, the actual show brings so much out already, so it’s just more of a continuation of that. But it was really fun.
The ‘Percy Jackson’ Stars Share Moments of Joy From Set

“When you think back to when we first wanted to become actors, that was our dream to have that view.”

I have to wind down with you all soon, so I’m gonna end with one big group question. Making TV shows is hard, but I love emphasizing the joy you can have while going through that process as often as possible. Can you each tell me the specific day or moment on the Percy Jackson Season 2 set that brought you the most joy as an artist? SIMHADRI: What a lovely question. JEFFRIES: That’s an amazing question. BUSHNELL: There was a day on the Princess Andromeda, me and Walker were filming the scene, and we were in between takes. They were setting up a new shot, and we’re in the studio. It’s on the stage. There was a balcony on the set, so we kind of walked out on the balcony. GOODJOHN: It’s a great story. BUSHNELL: There’s not much to look at. There was just construction, and there was other stuff going on. Walker jokingly was like, “Ah, what a beautiful view.” Then we were kind of laughing about that, but then I was like, “Oh, it actually is pretty when you think about it. It is a beautiful view.” When you think back to when we first wanted to become actors, and that was our dream to have that view. I don’t know, we ended up having a deep talk about that in the moment.

Image by Alex Cobian

SCOBELL: Totally. It’s crazy to think about. You know what I mean? Especially because all of us were all such huge fans of shows and movies, and watching them — I guess that’s kind of what you do with them. But it’s crazy to be a part of something like that. Watching movies like Harry Potter, where they built this entire world, we get to be a part of one of those worlds. You know what I mean? It’s crazy. There’s going to be so many people that wind up saying the same thing about your show as you say about something like Harry Potter. SCOBELL: That’s crazy to think about. DIEMER: I think, again, the relationship with Tyson and Percy is so special, and as somebody who is coming in as a fan, I think that was something that was the most important for me to be able to capture. We had a couple of scenes around Camp Half-Blood, specifically, where we were able to kind of get into the intimacy of where Tyson comes from and his pain, but also why he’s such a big protector and such a big lover. And to be able to have those moments of really connecting with his brother, just like kind of heart-to-heart, was a really, really, really special moment. I’m so excited to see that relationship. JEFFRIES: I think it was August 20, 2024. GOODJOHN: The exact date. I love that you remember it so well! JEFFRIES: We were doing the chariots, and it was me, Kevin, and Sage, and our armor, the way it sits on you and stuff, it’s really hard for you to bend or to stab into you. GOODJOHN: Oh, I know what you’re going to say! That is really sweet. JEFFRIES: And, literally, we couldn’t sit in our regular director chairs that we have, so we decided to take our cozy coat jackets and lay them all out on the floor, and we decided to lay on the floor flat, all together in one line. GOODJOHN: And they took a nap! JEFFRIES: Literally, we were asleep. Then we woke up, and we all took a bite of one granola bar or something. It was just, like, talking to each other while looking at the tent, because you’re in a cast set, you’re not looking up at the sky. So, we were like, “Wow. Look at all that…” We were in the middle of the forest thingy, so. SIMHADRI: I think it’s hard to pick one specific moment. I think it’s less so all of the big things, and it’s the little moments that really make up that kind of picture-perfect idea we all have of going to set. I remember this one day, I can’t remember if I was working or if I was interning or something, but it was right after A Complete Unknown came out, and me and Charlie had both watched it, and we have karaoke Fridays at crafty.

Image by Alex Cobian

GOODJOHN: I was going to say karaoke, too! SIMHADRI: Yeah. And me and Charlie dueted… BUSHNELL: “It Ain’t Me Babe.” SIMHADRI: “It Ain’t Me Babe,” and it was magical. BUSHNELL: I think it’s on film. SIMHADRI: It probably is on film. We did a whole 30 minutes of just us screaming our hearts out to random songs. It was really fun. GOODJOHN: Mine is gonna be that, too, but more on that. I think that it was the last day of filming proper, and it was cold outside, and it was super late. It was a late shoot. You would expect that everyone was so tired and grumpy and ready to go home, but everyone was in such high spirits because we all love each other so much, from the cast to everybody on the crew. I remember walking outside, and it was basically snowing. It wasn’t snowing, but there was ice on the floor, and you guys were all doing karaoke, and then Chris from Crafty sang an Adele song or something he popped on, and he was singing, and then everybody was singing, and then Leah got on the mic. At some point, we were doing the Drake and Kendrick [Lamar] beef, but like IRL with us. That whole moment, just being with everybody, and it being freezing cold and super late at night, but us all having smiles on our faces and just being with each other and being so happy to be there, that I’m never gonna forget, for sure. Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 premieres on Disney+ on December 10.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 1 is available to stream on Disney+. Watch Here