‘Percy Jackson’ EPs Say Show ‘Does Not Work’ Without Star Trio

Watching Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri on set of Percy Jackson and the Olympians really was like watching Rick Riordan‘s characters come to life for executive producers and showrunners Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz.

Percy Jackson premiered on Tuesday, December 19 with two episodes on Disney+ and Hulu, and fans of the books are already in love with the actors who play Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, lovingly called “the trio” by fans and creators alike. The overwhelmingly positive fan and critic reaction to the trio since the series premiere is a sign that the creators of this series did their job right.

Steinberg and Shotz tell TV Insider that casting the right actors wasn’t enough. They had to then make sure that the set was an environment where they could have fun and grow as young stars. Steinberg and Shotz say there wasn’t a moment on set when they didn’t feel pride in the teens’ casting.

“At any time any two of those three kids are in the same physical space, you just are a little bit reminded of how not preordained it was to end up with three kids like this, who can do all the things we asked them to do,” Steinberg says. “The show absolutely does not work without any one of the three of them.”

“I remember even the first day, we were just doing basic or pre day minus one. We were doing pre camera tests and they couldn’t stop laughing and they couldn’t stop just enjoying each other. And that stayed for 160 days,” Shotz adds. “These kids were having the time of their lives. We said it from day one that if they’re not loving this, there’s something broken. We have to make sure they are loving this experience and if they’re loving it, they’re bringing that to the work. They’re such pros that they were bringing all of that joy and that heart and that emotional resonance every day to what they did. These kids did not complain once, and they worked for 160 days.”

Scobell, Jeffries, and Simhadri are all huge fans of the books themselves. Scobell has read the series at least seven times (see the trio test their Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief knowledge here). For all three of them, playing these characters in this loyal adaptation of the books was a dream come true. Their adventure continues in Percy Jackson and the Olympians Episode 3, debuting December 26 on Disney+.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Tuesdays, 9/8c, Disney+ and Hulu