TV Talk: Western Pa.’s Walker Scobell returns for 2nd season starring in ‘Percy Jackson’

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

Growing up in Erie, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” star Walker Scobell had three choices for big city cultural experiences.

“You go two hours one way, it’s Pittsburgh. The other way, it’s Cleveland. And another way, it’s Buffalo,” Scobell said during a Zoom interview for season two of the Disney+ series he stars in as the title character. “I always love Pittsburgh, and I do a lot of voiceover stuff [in a studio] there.”

Scobell isn’t the only Pennsylvania connection among the “Percy Jackson” team. Executive producer Jon Steinberg is the brother-in-law of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

“Yes, all big fans,” Steinberg said in early December of his sister’s family in Harrisburg. “[They were] all very excited to see the [‘Percy Jackson’] commercials at halftime [during NFL games] this week, and everybody’s very excited for the launch. [During] season two, we had a contingent [of the Shapiro family] come out and spend some time with us [on the set], so that was fun.”

Based on the book series by author Rick Riordan, the first two “Percy Jackson” books, “The Lightning Thief” and “Sea of Monsters,” were adapted into movies in 2010 and 2013, but those were met with mixed-to-negative responses from fans of the books. Riordan wasn’t very involved in the movies, but Disney brought him on board for the streaming series, which covered “Lightning Thief” in season one and revisits “Sea of Monsters” in season two, more faithfully adapting the source material.

“The hope was to give book fans … a series that they could feel good about, that they could view and say, ‘OK, yes, that’s how I imagined it,’” said Riordan, who offers the streaming series’ writers a suggested outline for the eight episodes each season and gives notes on “Percy Jackson” scripts. “There’s a sense of humor to Percy Jackson that I think is very important and critical to its success. It has to be a blend of action and pathos and humor, and if you don’t have one of those ingredients, then the cake is not going to rise.”

Streaming its first two episodes of its second season on Wednesday (new episodes debut weekly on Wednesdays), viewers meet a significant new character, the cyclops Tyson (Daniel Diemer). In addition, Percy and best friend Grover (Aryan Simhadri) get separated for much of the season.

“Walker and Aryan became such good friends, there was just this pinball energy between the two of them on set, and you could see it translate on screen,” said “Percy Jackson” executive producer Craig Silverstein (“Turn”). “Reading the second book and seeing that they were separated, that was a big, ‘Oh no,’ and it created a desire to figure out ways to get them back together on screen.”

The “empathy link,” established in Riordan’s books, enables the pair to share scenes, an opportunity “so we could see that dynamic again,” Silverstein said, “because you want that, and it’s something that obviously works and delights.”

That doesn’t mean it was always easy for the cast, who grew accustomed to frequently sharing scenes in season one.

“I gotta be honest, it kind of sucks, dude,” Grover actor Simhadri said, explaining his intermittent filming schedule didn’t allow him to go home from the show’s filming location in British Columbia, Canada. “Walker and I got apartments right next to each other. We would go to the gym and I would hear about his day… [The executive producers] sat me down in pre-production. They were like, ‘You’re obviously not going to be around as much this season, you know that, but we want you here as much as you can be, like, we want you on set even if you’re not working.’ … Hearing that gave me this assurance [that] I’m not getting in the way if I’m not working. I ended up asking to be a camera trainee for a little bit, and they let me, and they were so accommodating.”

With Grover otherwise occupied, there’s a new Camp Half-Blood trio at the forefront: Percy, Annabeth and Tyson.

“That trio dynamic is so different than it was in season one,” said executive producer Dan Shotz. “In this season, Tyson is this new figure. He’s lovable. He’s awesome. He’s a big caretaker. He will fight for what he believes in, but at the same time, this is a new relationship now for Annabeth, for Percy, and how does Tyson fit into the middle of this Annabeth-Percy dynamic?”

In another change from season one, Percy and Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries) are at odds after Chiron (Glynn Turman) tells Annabeth to keep information from Percy.

“You know that little thing where they’re like, ‘It hurts me more than it hurts you’?” Jeffries said. “Annabeth genuinely is a lot more hurt [having to a keep a secret from Percy]. I think Percy just wants to know.”

And then there’s Clarice (Dior Goodjohn), painted as the villain of Camp Half-Blood in season one until it’s revealed that Luke (Charlie Bushnell) is the real bad guy.

“In season one, she was the bully that she needed to be. She served her purpose. I loved to hate her. The world loved to hate her,” Goodjohn said. “From reading the books, I didn’t necessarily expect [the streaming series] to really commit to the idea of creating the story of Clarice and making it so that people can sympathize with her and understand. I never thought that we’d get that deep into really picking apart her brain, but we do, and it’s a very, very beautiful thing. … Greek myths really mirror simple life experiences. And this very much mirrors the experience of being a teenage girl like Clarice.”

Riordan is eager for fans to see Disney+’s adaptation of “Sea of Monsters.”

“Honestly, we’re getting better as a team. We are learning how to do this story in TV with each successive season,” Riordan said. “We are learning how to translate Percy’s voice. In the books, it’s first-person narration. You’re with him, you’re in his head the entire time. You can’t really do that in television the same way. We had to find ways to translate that sense of humor, his snarkiness … and I think it really does show in season two.”

Riordan already looks forward to season three, which is based on Riordan’s never-before-adapted “The Titan’s Curse,” which is already filming.

“There’s a scene in that book set at the Hoover Dam, which is a fan favorite, and they are filming it right now,” Riordan said. “They’re doing an incredible job, so I can’t wait to see the final version of that.”