A WORLD OF CHILDHOOD FANTASY LIVES IN EACH OF US, BUT RARELY LEAVES THE MARGINS OF IMAGINATION. A YOUNGER WALKER SCOBELL READ PERCY JACKSON INTENTLY, ENVISIONING THE PROTAGONIST SETTING SAIL ON A SEA OF MONSTERS, CHARYBDIS BELOW, SIRENS AHEAD, MOUNT OLYMPUS FAR BEHIND. YEARS LATER, AS IF THE MIST FADED BETWEEN FANTASY AND MATERIALITY, HE SEES HIS OWN FACE IN THE SEA’S REFLECTION, STANDING ON THE IRONCLAD’S BOW AS PERCY JACKSON IN THE DISNEY+ SERIES.

BECOMING PERCY WOULD HAVE SHOCKED HIS YOUNGER SELF, BUT SHOCK HAS A WAY OF BECOMING NORMAL QUICKLY. WE TALK ABOUT WHAT MYTHS TEACH – ADAPTABILITY AND HUMILITY. EVEN AS HIS DREAMS COME TO LIGHT, WALKER KNOWS NOT TO FLY TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN. HE HUMBLY ACCEPTS SEVERAL WATER CANNONS TO THE FACE, NIGHTMARES IN WHICH HE’S FRAMED FOR MURDER ON SET, AND A PARALLEL PARKING FAIL. THE FUTURE AWAITS, BUT FOR NOW, HE’S PLUNGING INTO THE PRESENT.

Hello! How are you?
Really good, but it's the last day of the entire press tour, so it's also sad.

You must feel ready for the holiday break, though. Does your family have any holiday traditions?
My siblings and I all wake up at six in the morning, sit on the stairs, and wait for my parents to make coffee, which takes them forever every year. We all still sit on the stairs every Christmas.

As you get older, your parents only get slower at making coffee.
I'm really excited for that. Thank you. [Laughs]

Now that you have that to look forward to, let’s get into Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which is centred around the quest for the Golden Fleece. If you could go on a quest to find an item that you lost, what would you look for?
Now I have to think about everything that I’ve lost. [Laughs] I had a light-up Green Lantern ring when I was really young, and the battery died.

Is there a mythological story that interests you the most?
I really like the myth of Icarus and Daedalus. It portrays an important message. Stay humble and don't get too close to the sun.

Some of the season is about dreams. Do you ever dream as Percy?
I had a dream every single night filming season two, either related to Percy or my life. I have weird dreams all the time; it's definitely similar to the show. I'd wake up every morning, and Aryan [Simhadri] and my acting coach would try to figure out what they meant. There have been times when I have had a dream of a scene that I'm about to do. I'll have a dream of me messing up horribly. Then I have to fight that feeling in reality. I had a dream that when I went to my trailer, there was a body there. The crew was like, "You did this! This is your fault." Then I woke up, and I've never been more relieved in my life.

Oh my God! On a lighter note, Sally teaches Percy things in his childhood that he doesn't realise are helpful until later. Is there anything someone taught you in childhood that you didn’t realise was helpful until more recently?
Almost everything I know has been taught to me by my parents. My dad always tells me that it's not just about making the right decision, it's about making a decision. The one thing you can't get back is time. It’s important to go for it even if you don't know if it's the right choice. I'm proud to say, so far, I've gone 100% in that direction. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but you still win because you learn something.

That is a great mindset. A notable part of Percy’s character is that he often feels inferior even while achieving incredible feats. Have you ever felt similarly, even when you have fully committed to something?
Even if you are the best at something, you can always be better. The moment that you start to think you know everything is when you stop learning. I don't know that much at all. I can learn from everybody.

Is there any lesson from filming season two that you took with you to season three?
I’ve had to do a lot of scenes soaking wet, getting water blasted in my face, while in a toga. Those days are fun in a lot of ways, but in a lot more ways, they’re not. It can get difficult. I know I'm saying that while having the best job ever. I love it every day. It’s important to keep the best attitude when you start to think, “Ah, I'm freezing. I wish I were warm at home.” We get to do all these amazing things, so I just have no respect for people who complain all day. Even if you're not having a good time, joke about it.

To your point, playing Percy has been a dream of yours ever since you read the books in third grade. Percy Jacksonis about prophecy and the dangers of knowing too much about your future. If you were told in third grade that you would be playing Percy, how do you think that would have changed the way you read the books?
Another good question. It's interesting because a lot of my personality comes from reading those books when I was young. I don’t think anything would have changed.

Percy is supposed to be a character with limited context. When acting, do you feel like you have to forget about a lot of the context that you know as a reader?
I can’t forget it. I just focus on something else. When filming, I'm just thinking about exactly what's happening. Annabeth is always thinking six steps ahead, as she says in the show, but Percy's always thinking about what's happening right now. That’s why I loved him when I was younger; he’s a very present character.

What are some details in this season that made you happy as a book fan to see?
I'm happy we leaned into the Ironclad story. It’s difficult to relay the story through eight episodes, because there are massive elements that can’t be skipped. In episode four, we didn't try to find a way around it. We really leaned into the entire disaster that the characters get into.

Fans are looking forward to the siren scene where we see Percy and Annabeth’s fatal flaws. Thinking from Percy’s perspective, if he could take a characteristic from another character, what do you think he'd pick?
I think he admires Grover’s level-headedness. Percy can let his emotions get the best of him. In some ways, that keeps him alive, but it also creates problems for him personally.

The fatal flaws are amazing in moderation, but dangerous in excess. Is there anything relative to your portrayal this season that you felt towed that same line?
Sometimes the writing leans into “Percabeth”—Percy and Annabeth’s relationship. I didn't want to lean into this too hard because it’s not supposed to happen until later on. They’re not writing it any differently, but because Leah [Sava Jeffries] and I are so much older, it holds a different meaning now. I tried to focus on not leaning into that as much as we could have.

It is such a great slow burn. Daniel [Diemer] said in an interview that he felt the coolest during the bomb scene. Was there a moment while filming where you were like, “I feel extremely cool right now?”
There was a scene in episode four, when I'm standing on the bow of The Ironclad. It was just the coolest feeling ever, especially because I could imagine the CGI of Charybdis beneath us. I knew it was going to look epic.

It did turn out amazing. What are you most looking forward to this coming year?
I'm really excited to get my driver's license. That's my number one thing. I'm not that confident in my ability to parallel park, so we'll see how it goes.