The Feats Of Walker Scobell

Walker Scobell has ascended.

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.

“[Now] there’s not a lot of time to just sit and think.”

“I feel like there’s not a lot of time where you get to think about [how life has changed],” Scobell says. “But I definitely felt that way after Season 1. There was a pretty big break: I got my first full year of school since sixth grade. [Now] there’s not a lot of time to just sit and think — and then when you do get that time, you want to make the most of it and go out and explore.”

As Percy Jackson launches into its second season, adapting the angstier Sea of Monsters, Scobell is faced with a new juggling act. Seaward battles, dangerous figments of Greek mythology, and shifting alliances are just a few of the obstacles he faces as Percy this go ‘round. Season 2 is poised to become one of a handful of shows we cozy up to watch during the holidays — and though filming it brought Scobell way out of his comfort zone, that’s exactly where he wants to be.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The rollout for Season 2 has been huge — the cast even did Comic-Con together earlier this year. How fun is it to have all these experiences with the whole group, where you’re not just hanging out on set, but in real life, promoting the show?

I think it gets you a lot closer. Aryan [Simhadri], Leah [Jeffries], and I were pretty close for Season 1, but then the press tour… it really brings everyone together. It’s weird, once you start getting into the swing of things with filming, you don’t really hang out with each other that much, because on your days off, you’re sleeping and resting and you’re just not really doing anything and you see each other at work all day. You kind of get to a point where you just want some alone time, but for this it’s like, I don’t know, we’re going to so many new cities and different places and meeting new people and doing new things, so there’s always something fresh to keep your energy up. It keeps everyone in a pretty good mood. Not that no one’s in a good mood on set, but just that we’re all so focused on the work that we’re not necessarily thinking about hanging out with each other.

I’m sure too, this season is a lot more intense and physical than Season 1.

Oh yeah. I mean, I’m beat every day — but I have so much fun and I really try to push myself, especially on set. And I love the press tour, just for the travel. I love seeing all the new cities and how different people are.

Your “big break” was only a few years ago. Do you ever just get a moment to think, “Wow, time is moving so quickly”?

Sometimes. I feel like there’s not a lot of time where you get to think about that, especially because the gap between Seasons 2 and 3 was… it was pretty quick. It was like four months, so you kind of just get right back into it. But I definitely felt that way after Season 1. There was a pretty big break: I got my first full year of school since sixth grade. [Now] there’s not a lot of time to just sit and think — and then when you do get that time, you want to make the most of it and go out and explore.

Before you were cast as Percy Jackson, did you have a big Greek mythology phase?

I was a massive Percy Jackson fan before this. If I wasn’t on the show, I’d be watching it — and I am on the show and I am watching it, but it’s a lot more difficult because I have to stare at my face the whole time, which I don’t know... It is awesome, but at the same time I’m like… in a way, I ruined it for myself.

It’s hard to watch yourself.

I watch it for everyone else. I try not to look at myself, but at everyone else and what they’re doing — and everyone’s doing such an amazing job, so it makes it a lot easier to watch.

What’s your favorite novel in the series?

Are we talking about, like, including “Heroes of Olympus”?

Let’s stick with just the Percy Jackson series.

I would say The Last Olympian. Titan’s Curse is pretty good, and we’re filming that right now and it’s just… they barely have to change anything to work within [the] TV format. With Season 2, it’s a little bit more difficult, because the big battles are more spread out. It would be better [suited] to a movie, but we have to make it so every single episode is a big event, so it’s been difficult trying to find little things to expand on and make bigger. Every episode, each week, there has to be the main meat of it, the thing that everyone leaves remembering. [Sea of Monsters] is such a strange adventure in the way that it’s like “little fight… little fight… little fight… huge fight sequence… little fight… huge fight sequence.” So it’s been hard to cut that into eight episodes, whereas Season 3 is built for that. It’s really easy to just chop the story up, and then you’ve got your eight episodes.

It’s interesting hearing you talk about the pacing of the series, almost in like this producer mindset. Are you gleaning things from the showrunners, filing things away in case you ever want to write or direct in the future?

I think so. I mean, it’s just mainly learning about how things work; just learning about the different styles of leadership… I am still just an actor [but] they’re good about listening to me. We have a really great team, and Rick is helping us write it. But especially as a book fan, it is difficult letting things go. There’s times where little things have to be changed, and it’s difficult for me to let it go because I’m so devoted to the series. It’s like letting a piece of my life go.

Sea of Monsters is starting to step into a bit of the darkness that defines the later books. Did Season 2 feel different, even angstier, than Season 1?

Well, it’s interesting. It felt very similar when we were shooting it, but then looking at it, I think the color grading, the music that they chose to add, and the shots that they chose to use, really make the show. You don’t really feel it until you see it. Especially seeing the first two episodes the other night, we’re leaning into how this series is going to get a little bit darker. I joke sometimes that this is pretty much the last time you’re going to see everyone genuinely happy. It gets pretty rough, but [books] one and two are very different from three, four, and five. It’s, in my mind, two different book series.

The relationship between Percy and Annabeth, especially in these first two episodes, is deepening and getting more complicated. I’m curious how you and Leah approached the dynamic this time around, knowing how things end and knowing that people are rooting for this relationship.

It’s really easy to see the fan reaction and be like, “Oh, we should push it further, more Percabeth.” But I think the difficult part for me, in Season 2 and even Season 3, I’m really trying not to push it. If it happens too early, then it’s like Calypso and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, that just doesn’t make sense. And here’s the difficult thing about a production: There is so much going on, so much people need to think about. So many people have to focus on one book, but I have the time, the luxury of time, to think about the future and the other books. I bring that up all the time — I just can’t push it any further than it needs to be. But it’s also difficult because something needs to be there.

“You gotta find little things to sprinkle in there and get people excited.”

I remember reading the books and being completely oblivious to the fact that they liked each other until, like, book three.

I was too! That’s not a crazy thing to say.

Okay, cool. Because watching Season 1 did surprise me — it sprinkles in a few moments of, “There could be something here,” that I never picked up on before.

Yeah, that’s the one thing that I was always like… It’s hard because you don’t want to watch people arguing for an entire season, you know what I mean? You gotta find little things to sprinkle in there and get people excited, but it’s also like it’s a slow burn. You’ve got to keep it slow. I think Leah and I did talk about that, because there are some lines that shouldn’t come out in that way — but since we are older, it looks that way. It’s hard to avoid these natural things that we’re saying and also say them without this kind of context behind it.

Was there anything you were surprised to discover about yourself filming Season 2?

Well, I just had a big growth spurt going into Season 2. I think I was a little bit less coordinated than I was in Season 1. I think I was pretty comfortable doing the fights in Season 1. I mean, I was supposed to be really clumsy and that really worked out for me: I was really clumsy. But in Season 2, Percy’s supposed to be a little bit less clumsy, and it was harder for me to do the fights. I felt so lanky and I felt uncoordinated. I used to get so stressed out during the fight scenes, which were my favorite things to film. They also stressed me out so much because I felt so slow and I felt like my reactions were slow, I just was so uncoordinated, and I didn’t know how big my body was. It was hard to do those scenes and not be terrified that my leg is longer than I think it is…

And you accidentally kick somebody.

That did happen. But, I mean, things like that happen a lot.

I’m sure there was an added element of intensity in filming “at sea,” which we’ll see later this season. How do you decompress or unwind after those scenes? How do you stave off anxiety?

I don’t even think about trying to get rid of it. I don’t really get anxious. I mean, I do, but it’s less that I’m freaking out that it’s not going to work out well or it’s more that I’m excited for it and I can’t wait for it, especially in Season 3. That kind of anxiety, I love that stuff. Anxiety just means that you care. I really look forward to the fights.

You’ve got a lot on your plate between filming Season 3, promoting Season 2, and more. On the days that you do have a day off, would you rather be cozy, relaxing at home, or out and about getting fresh air?

That’s difficult because you want to sleep, your body wants to sleep — but a part of you is also like, “I don’t want to waste the day.” It really depends on the day. Sometimes, if it’s rainy — and it is raining a lot in Vancouver [where Percy Jackson production takes place] — I’ll just watch movies all day or play video games and sit in my house. But a lot of the time, I want to get outside and I want to do things. Aryan and I, we live really close to each other, and we live so close to a movie theater, so we go to the movie theater all the time. It’s my favorite thing to do. I’ve never lived this close before; it’s always been a big deal to get up and drive 30 minutes to a movie theater from where I live. And now since there’s one walking distance, I can walk over there wherever, and it’s the best thing ever.

“I would love to do a role where it’s a ton of stunts.”

Looking forward, do you have a dream role you’re thinking of? Are you calling up Marvel like, “Can I be Kid Deadpool?”

[Laughs.] That would be awesome. But I don’t know. It is difficult with stuff like that because it’s like, everyone says you want to be Spider-Man, but as a Spider-Man fan, it’s difficult. I love Tom Holland, especially after No Way Home. He’s really owning it, so as a fan, I don’t want to see another guy portraying it. And the same goes for Deadpool. Ryan just completely owned that character, so it’s hard to think about somebody ever taking that over from him. There are some characters that I think haven’t really been done a lot in live action and I think that’d be cool. I think for James Gunn’s DCU, if they wanted a younger Wally West, I’d be willing to dye my hair red. That version of Wally West we’ve never seen. I think that would be super fun because you get to throw your own spin on it and really make it your own, and it’s like your character.

Another character — I read this book recently, it’s called The Lions of Lucerne. I thought it was awesome. It reminds me of Mission: Impossible. I would love to do a role where it’s a ton of stunts, where you can just actually do it.

And circling back to your work with Reynolds in The Adam Project, which kick-started so much, are you guys chit-chatting about working together again someday?

I think if it happens, it happens. I get random texts, like happy birthday texts from him all the time. I miss Ryan and Shawn a lot. I think about this all the time, especially as, I guess, I’m in a similar position that Ryan was in for The Adam Project with me that I am for Levi [Chrisopulos, who’ll play Nico D’Angelo in Percy Jackson Season 3]. He’s such a good leader and he really led the set of The Adam Project so well, and I hope I can live up to that one day, and Shawn too. It is just such an amazing group to work with, and I really hope I can work with them again, but they’re both doing amazing things.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians streams on Disney+.