Summary

• The latest episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians introduces the god Hephaestus, whose tragic backstory highlights the selfish nature of the gods.
• The show remains faithful to the source material while making some changes to the books.
• Timothy Omundson, who plays Hephaestus in the show, discusses his experience on set and expresses excitement for potential future interactions between characters.

Since its premiere in late 2023, Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been met with widespread praise for its faithful adaptation of the beloved Rick Riordan series. The new Disney+ show follows the titular demigod Percy, the son of Poseidon, who goes on a journey with friends Annabeth and Grover to prove his innocence after being blamed for the theft of Zeus's lightning bolt. The series stars Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri as the trio alongside actors like Lin Manuel-Miranda, Megan Mullaly, and Jason Matzoukas.

The fifth episode of the series introduced Hephaestus, the god of fire, technology, and blacksmiths, and the brother of Ares, god of war. One of the latest gods to be introduced in Percy Jackson, his appearance happens earlier than in the books, helping to better flesh out the story of the gods. Cast out from Mount Olympus by his mother Hera for his appearance and then betrayed by his wife Aphrodite - who had an affair with Ares - the fire god's backstory is a tragic one that does a great job of demonstrating the backstabbing and selfish nature of the gods.

Screen Rant recently interviewed Timothy Omundson to discuss his time on the Percy Jackson and the Olympians set, the show's passionate fanbase, and his future hopes for Psych.

Timothy Omundson Talks Percy Jackson & The Olympians

Screen Rant: What was it like working with this amazing cast, especially the show's pantheon of gods? Did you get to interact a lot with them on set?

Timothy Omundson: I really didn't. Because I just worked the one day on episode 5. In fact in the setup of the scene, because the way the scene was set, there was a great distance between Leah [Jeffries] and I; a great physical distance. So I didn't hang out with them too much.

Walker and I unfortunately had very little interaction, because he of course was already in the throne by my scene with him. Actually I got to meet him a little bit at the New York premiere at The Met. I've gotten to hang out with him slightly but not as much as I usually would like to with my co-stars.

I know that your appearance in this series is a little different from in the books. What was the process like of bridging the gap between what fans know about this character from the book and what you're portraying on the screen?

Timothy Omundson: Well, I mean, I didn't have too much of a difficulty with it, because it's just all in the script. Dan [Shotz] and Jon [Steinberg] and Rick [Riordan] wrote such a beautiful, easy script to follow emotionally. And Dan's an old friend, so I'd great trust in him, and he was with me literally every take of the way.

We really talked a lot between Dan and Jet Wilkinson, our amazing director, about what the emotional beats were for this character and what they wanted to hit. So even though it wasn't necessarily written out in the book, it was really important in the script and our discussions off camera.

From your day of filming, are there any behind-the-scenes moments that stand out to you as especially funny or a part of your scene that was especially difficult to get right for whatever reason?

Timothy Omundson: Yeah, actually the way the scene was shot, because there was such distance of me being at the very - I was at the very top of the sound stage. And because I'm not great with stairs, they were kind enough to build a scissor lift for me to get me up to the very top of the set piece.

It was a little strange, and it was an emotional scene between Annabeth and Hephaestus. And because of the distance, I felt like a lot of it had to be sort of yelled back and forth, which was not super ideal for subtle acting.

But they were great in that Danny's just such a problem solver. He was great in the way they setup the scene where they had a really wonderful acting coach on set who was up with me. I think Leah was wrapped earlier because she's a minor. Their acting coach was up with me and feeding me lines, so he was really close to me, so at least I could do some of the lines like as if it wasn't 75 yards between us.

And then much of my work, because she was gone I was looking at an X, which is often the way in television and film. Andrew [Mcllroy], their coach, is a great actor as well. And I thought I was really brilliant how the scene played out in the episode because there was this distance. But the emotion really played in Leah's face, and she's such a great actress. She really carried that scene between the two of us.

For future seasons of this show, what god or other characters in general you would most want to interact with more in later episodes?

Timothy Omundson: Well, I would love to get to work with my brother, Adam Copeland, just because he's got such great comedic chops. I was really impressed with him. In fact, I just texted him this morning after seeing the episode, because we live in different time zones, so it was too late to text him last night.

But my first text this morning was to him saying how great his comedic chops were. And the animosity between the two characters I think would be really fun to dig into, with Ares being of course Ares and Hephaestus being sort of the kinder, gentler, more granola liberal of the group, I would think.

Which usually means Hephaestus is so much more of a satyr in a way, from the way Ares describes that breed of beings. With Hephaestus being more of a understanding, sort of peace-loving - well, I don't know if he's peace-loving, but I guess he will be. But he's certainly a bit more sensitive of the group.

Yeah, they would be a good foil to each other. Definitely.

Timothy Omundson: Of course, we can't let that question go by without mentioning Hermes and just to get to work with Lin-Manuel would be a dream of mine. I don't know what our interaction would be, but just selfishly as to get to work with that actor, just to get to hang out on set with him would be a dream come true.

And I'm curious, what were you most excited to see fans react to in this episode that you're in?

Timothy Omundson: Well, the first big interaction between Leah and Walker. First there's a shipping name for it - Percabeth I think they call it. Which, just looking at social media, I've already seen a lot of reactions to that, which is just great, because I know a lot of them, they've really been waiting for that.

Even just the fact that the first time she calls him seaweed head or seaweed brain got a lot of notice. I know that people have really been waiting for that, to see that spark and that relationship develop even more. It was exciting to see the reaction on social media.

I know that a lot of our readers are also Psych fans, and it's been a few years since the release of Psych 3. Is there anything you can reveal about any progress with Psych 4 the movie?

Timothy Omundson: Well, I can tell you there has been a script written, which I believe - and I could be totally wrong here - I believe it's already with the network, with Peacock, and we're just hoping and praying that they see fit to give us the green light. But I know that Steve and James started writing the script before the writers' strike.

I think it might have even been when they wrote Psych 3, I think it might have been a three-parter, so they switched that around to get ready for Psych 4. Because I think they didn't have the money at the time to do two episodes when we did 3. So yeah, 4 was pretty much in the pipeline and ready to go, and they just made some adjustments to it, from what I've been told.

Awesome. Well, that's really exciting.

Timothy Omundson: We have a Psych family text thread that we all chime in on. And we all talk several times a week, and of course during the holidays, and we are all prepped and ready to go. I mean, not prepped, but we are all primed and ready and excited. We're all chomping at the bit and waiting to start running once we hear they got that green light.

Hopefully we'll have actual real news soon to say, "Yes, this happened," and it's more than just aspirational now. We just need the nice people at Peacock to realize that these fans not just desire but need a fourth movie. Basically, it's established. We all just want to get back on the set together in Vancouver.

Yeah, which honestly, is pretty understandable. It's such a fun cast.

Timothy Omundson: It was one of those incredibly rare things; it was just lightning in a bottle. I mean, I would say eight years, 120 episodes, three movies - well, four movies, aspirational - and not a bad word between any of us. It just does not happen in any line of work.

If you could harness any of the powers of the gods in Percy Jackson, what power would you choose?

Timothy Omundson: I think for me probably Percy's control of water, because I'm not the best swimmer and I love how he - as we saw in the fifth episode when he's stuck in the river and realized he could breathe underwater. That was a really cool moment which I would certainly love to have. My brief experience with snorkeling makes me really wish I could go down to the bottom and hang out with the fishes and the beings more without worrying about that pesky thing called air. [Laughs]

About Percy Jackson & The Olympians

Percy Jackson is on a dangerous quest. Outrunning monsters and outwitting gods, he must journey across America to return Zeus’ master bolt and stop an all-out war. After losing his mother, Percy is sheltered at Camp Half-Blood, a sanctuary for demigod children. He must prove himself and confront his origins once he discovers he too is a demigod, and will take off into the perils of pursuing enemies in search of the Underworld. With the help of his quest mates Annabeth and Grover, Percy’s journey will lead him closer to the answers he seeks:

how to fit into a world where he feels out of place, if he'll ever see his mother again, and if he can ever find out who he’s destined to be.

Check out our other interviews here:

• Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries & Aryan Simhadri
• Becky & Rick Riordan
• Jon Steinberg & Dan Shotz
• Cast & Crew on Red Carpet

New episodes of Percy Jackson and Olympians premiere every Tuesday on Disney+.