EXCLUSIVE: Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, & Daniel Diemer Talk Season 2 of ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’
Disney+ kicked off the second season of their hit series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, last Wednesday, December 10. Based off the second novel, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monster, in the best selling series, by Rick Riordan, BeautifulBallad had the opportunity to catch up with stars of the series, Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Daniel Diemer.
On developing Percy (Scobell) and Tyson’s (Diemer) chemistry on and off screen:
Daniel Diemer: “I find that the chemistry’s kind of there or isn’t, it’s really hard to manufacture. We did a bunch of prep with our acting coach that I think, really helped us kind of get to know each other better, but even off the top, just from the chemistry reads it was really obvious that that we both loved the books, loved the project and were really passionate about kind of bringing it together in any special way that we could. At least for me, that was something that really felt like this could be another home for me and wasn’t something I’d be really having to fight against my coworkers trying to do what I want to do and so that made it really, really cool really, really quickly.”
Walker Scobell: “It’s kind of just there or it isn’t. I feel like it was just there right away and wedidn’t have to work too hard to find it onscreen”.
On how the choreography and stunts for character-centric sequences compare to season 1:
Leah Sava Jeffries: “I think the difference we have more stunts and just more practice this season. We still want to be book-accurate and follow what stunts might’ve been in the books but we also want to add a little bit of our own thing to it. The difference definitely is it’s more fights between the demigods this season. There was a lot where it was demigods fighting against monsters in season one, but in the second season the intensity is not just intense by itself but it’s also because it’s fighting against your own kind. I think that’s one of the big differences of Season 1 to Season 2 because it’s like ‘Oh, these kids, they’re going on a quest to, you know, survive,’ but now since we find out that Luke has left and there’s a bunch of other kids that have changed as well, it’s now fighting against your own family.”
Walker Scobell: “They really started to lean into the demigods have betrayed Camp and that whole part of the story that wasn’t really talked about too much in the second book”.
On the most challenging scene to film:
Walker Scobell: “You can’t really pick a least favorite. There’s only days that are harder than others. So I think some of the days that were hardest were the ones in the Ironclad. It was pouring rain and there were fans blowing in our faces and they had these massive water jets and they were shooting it at us and it wasn’t one of things that you can just get done. We had to shoot an entire week, and then they had to take the entire Ironclad apart, tilt it eight degrees, and then we had to shoot the whole second half of it. So it was a long time to shoot in weather conditions like that.”
On their favorite scene:
Daniel Diemer: “I think one of my favorites would be the chariot races. To have a set that’s been built so, so massive, but to be able to have a lot of practical elements in the action between the horses and then also the rigs that they built for us when we were on the chariots on the mechanical side of things was such an incredible experience. And to be able to have an action sequence that spanned weeks of filming for me was kind of crazy, it was very much a first. I loved every moment of that.”
Leah Sava Jeffries: “You can’t really pick a favorite, but at the same time, I love the chariots. It’s not my favorite scene but more like what was the favorite set. When you watch it, you always think that Camp Half-Blood will be your favorite to film because of all the graphics. But if you’re talking about actually when you’re filming right then and there and there is no editing, it has to be the chariots, because again, it’s the most practical and it’s the game connection. When you’re playing the game and if you go to far out of balance and stuff, you just get stuck. That’s how it felt with the volume stage back then, but now with the chariots and stuff, I can go as far as I want to and just get to explore everything, and I feel like that was the best because on and off of filming I was able to just connect with it and get more into the character.”
On having the creator of the series, Rick Riordan, present during filming:
Leah Sava Jeffries: “It’s a true blessing. It’s already great enough that we have so many good producers and everything on this show helping the book come together into a live-action thing, but to actually have Rick, who created it, with actually there and being able to ask some questions that he knows for sure and stuff, and for him to be proud of that’s how you know you’re doing good. He’s the one that created it, he’s the one that had all this imagination, and to be able to work and satisfy and please Rick and when he’s happy and stuff, it makes me even more happy.”
Walker Scobell: “He has an interesting way of looking at it. When we’re on set, I always have to go up to him and ask him questions about the books or pronunciation of things and he’s very much says, ‘It’s up to you’. He kind of writes the book and then it’s out there for everyone to decide and I think that’s really interesting. It leaves it all up to your interpretation”.
Daniel Diemer: “It’s really special. For me, it’s been a book that’s been in my life since I was 13 years old, so to be able to have that much history with a world like this and to be able to meet him and be able to have that kind of voice behind to bounce things off of. But also to be able to know that everything’s kind of being taken care of. There’s a lot of adaptations that struggle to really honor the original source material. It’s kind of being used to create buzz around a new project, but really, they want to do their own thing. And so I think for me, it was just such a relief to be able to go into a project knowing that the creator was involved, that everybody was having conversations around everything, whatever changes were made, and what things stayed completely true to the books. It allowed us to relax, and at least for me, it was such an exciting thing to be able to just meet him in person as well.”
On whether filming on season two felt different than season one:
Walker Scobell: “It definitely feels a little bit different, but to some degree it feels like we kind of had a long weekend and stepped right back into Season 2, even though it was a pretty big break. The first day on set felt like not a lot of time had passed at all. Looking around, everyone looks a little bit older, but not too much, not too different. Lot of the same crew as well. So showing up every day felt the exact same. In a good way.”
Leah Sava Jeffries: “In my opinion I feel like it was different. In my way I feel like it definitely changed a lot when I saw Walker because of the height difference. I hadn’t seen him in so long because we live on two opposite sides of the country. It wasn’t just like, ‘Hey, guys, you want to go hang out and stuff during this big hiatus break?’ but I feel like that was a huge difference because we’re coming back. Even though I know these people, I felt like when I was filming the series, it didn’t really feel like the series until Season 2 had got renewed. It felt like a really long movie. When it got renewed, that’s when I was said, ‘Okay, this is really something that’s gonna keep going and keep going.’ I feel like also the big difference was I think I couldn’t remember a lot in the first season, so when I came back and stuff we also had switched things around because we were in a different side of the set. The schoolroom and things were different. That’s what also changed because we came back with same people but different areas of it”
On what scenes they filmed that they were excited to see on television:
Daniel Diemer: “So much. So much. Anything with special effects for me. I think a lot of the time when you’re doing the more emotional character-based scenes, a lot of the stuff with-Walker, between Percy and Tyson, you a very good idea of what it’s gonna look like just through the process. But working on a show that is so special effects-heavy, it’s always super exciting being able to go in and imagine the world. But also knowing that you’ve got a massive, incredible team behind you that’s gonna build it all out for real. Even watching the trailer and seeing all these different aspects was-so cool. I’m very excited for everybody to see kind of everything else. But the Princess Andromeda scenes. I think the special effects with anything related to fire or the water stuff was also really exciting.”
Leah Sava Jeffries: “I’m gonna Episode 5 in total. The siren scene, I’m really proud of how it came out. I have so many behind-the-scenes photos of how big the set was, and how it was just built. It was so beautiful. In a very humble way of saying this, I’m very proud that I was able to still imagine so much of it, even though a lot of it was blue-screen. I’m just generally happy because I tried to work very hard to make that scene as true as possible and I am really excited to see it.”
On the challenges of bringing a character like Tyson to life:
Daniel Diemer: It was just trying to figure out the order of how to build the character. I’d read the books, I’d been such a fan, and so from the moment I got the first audition, I knew the center of what I wanted to build him around, from the vulnerability, the innocence, and build him out from a character that’s full of love, with kind of heart at the center. Everything else was trying to build out the cyclops aspect, so that mostly came down to physicality. He’s been growing like crazy over the last seven, eight years, but he’s also been on the street, so he’s getting accustomed to the world that he’s in, there’s a getting accustomed to his body, and so I really wanted curiosity to kind of be at the forefront. Then with the eye too, it’s the way that we see the world three-dimensionally is just having two kind of eyes to kind of layer everything together. With only one, depth perception doesn’t exist in the same sort of way. So whenever there were big action sequences, I wanted to make the movements a little bit more careful, as if he’s still trying to find his footing. Whether it was getting a little more hunched, a little bit more protective. he’s still kind of scared of the world. I think the physicality of bringing that all in really changes kind of how you feel in the moment as well. The emotions and the relationships build from just that physical structure. After that, it was just maintaining the relationships, I think—working with these guys, they brought so much to the table every single time and that made my job so much easier. To utilize their phenomenal acting and build that relationship as we kind of progress through the season.”
Season two of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is airing on Disney+ now.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity