Lin Manuel Miranda has joined the Disney+ series adaptation of Rick Riordan’s best-selling books titled “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”
Miranda will portray Hermes, the messenger god who is also known as Mercury in Latin, or Quicksilver for his cleverness and slippery scheming.
Author Riordan, who is backing this production in the adaptation process, confirmed the news via Instagram:
“Friends, please welcome our newest immortal in the Olypmian pantheon,” he wrote. “The god of travelers, gamblers, merchants, thieves, messengers, and all others who make their lives on the road — the one and only Hermes, otherwise known as @lin-manuel!”
Hermes’ son Luke (who will be played by Charlie Bushnell) plays a bit of an antagonist to Percy at the beginning of the book series.
Miranda, who is known for musicals like “Hamilton” and “In the Heights, as well as films like “Tick, Tick … Boom!” and “Encanto,” joins main stars Walker Schobell (“The Adam Project”) as Percy, Leah Jeffries as Annabeth Chase and Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood. In godly company, Jason Mantzoukas will portray Dionysus. The series will also star Virginia Kull, Glynn Turman, Megan Mullally, Timm Sharp, Charlie Bushnell, Dior Goodjohn and Olivea Morton.
Based on Riordan’s book series, the show will follow the life of Percy Jackson, 12-year-old demigod who, like Harry Potter, doesn’t find out until weird things start happening. Percy discovers he is a son of the Greek ocean god Poseidon, and that there exists a place like Hogwarts — Camp Halfblood — for children like him.
Riordan and Jon Steinberg wrote the show’s pilot. James Bobin directs. The trio will also executive produce alongside Dan Shotz, Rebecca Riordan, Bert Salke, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jim Rowe, Anders Engström, Jet Wilkinson and The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell and D.J. Goldberg.
The television series adaptation follows in the footsteps two films made out of the first two books — “The Lightning Thief” (2010) and “Sea of Monsters” (2013) starring Logan Lerman as Percy, Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth and Brandon T. Jackson as Grover.
