Percy Jackson & the Olympians has been welcomed as a beloved book series for almost 20 years now. Since it is a popular literature series, fans were excited upon learning that the series would be adapted into film, but were quickly disappointed with the outcome of the initial two movies released in 2010 and 2013 respectively. Upon the announcement that Percy Jackson would be adapted into a Disney+ television series in 2020, fans were once again ecstatic, hoping that the television series would do justice to the books. Positively, the author of the book series, Rick Riordan, announced that he would play a major part in the development of the show, something he did not get to do with the movies’ creation– improving fans’ outlook on its production.
In April 2021, Riordan announced that the television series was beginning the casting process on his blog, explaining that they were looking for actors who could embody the characters, and that looks were secondary to their talent. Riordan emphasized that he and the casting directors would be following the Disney company’s policy for casting, which is as follows: “We are committed to diverse, inclusive casting. For every role, please submit qualified performers, without regard to disability, gender, race and ethnicity, age, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other basis prohibited by law.”
In 2022, the three main characters of the Percy Jackson series (Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Grover Underwood) were officially casted, and many people were shocked by the outcome. Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri lacked the prominent physical traits that their characters were famously known for. For example, the title character, Percy Jackson, is known for his black hair and sea green eyes. Walker, who plays Percy, has blonde hair and blue eyes, completely contrasting his description in the books. Additionally, all three characters are described as white in the books, so when it was revealed that Jeffries (an African-American actress) and Simhadri (an Indian-American actor) would be playing Annabeth and Grover, there was a severe wave of backlash, mostly concentrated on Jeffries.
The main reason as to why people are upset about Jeffries’ casting is because Annabeth is described as having curly blonde hair and bright gray eyes—two traits that Jeffries lacks. In the books, Annabeth’s blonde hair is an semi-important attribute to her character; being a daughter of Athena, she breaks the stereotypical “dumb blonde” label due to her intelligence, which many readers found inspiring and necessary. Many fans took it as a personal offense that Annabeth would be stripped of a physical attribute that made up a seemingly significant part of her character. Interestingly, despite the clear racism underlining their comments, most of the haters insisted that their criticisms were purely a personal choice.
The backlash towards Jeffries became so draining on the young actress that Riordan had to step in and defend his choice of casting for Annabeth Chase. On May 10th, 2022, not even a week after announcing Leah’s casting, Riordan dedicated a blog post to defending Jeffries: He admitted that when discussing casting Leah, he and the other casting directors had expected some backlash, but not to the extreme extent where she was receiving death threats. Rick condemned the bullying and harassment, emphasizing that the negative comments constantly posted were not okay, especially since Jeffries was only twelve at the time. Furthermore, he explained that they were casted based on acting ability alone, rather than looks: “I have been clear, as the author,” Riordan stated, “That I was looking for the best actors to inhabit and bring to life the personalities of these characters, and that physical appearance was secondary for me. We did that. We took a year to do this process thoroughly and find the best of the best. This trio is the best. Leah Jeffries is Annabeth Chase.”
It has been almost two years since Jeffries was announced to play Annabeth. Since then, Percy Jackson and the Olympians has become available to stream on Disney+, with all of Season 1 released. Fortunately, as each episode progresses, there has been overwhelmingly positive feedback for Riordan’s choice for Annabeth Chase, and some of the hesitant fans began to accept the casting once and for all. Jeffries has been praised for truly embodying Annabeth’s character, and it seems that most of the hate regarding her appearance has been finally put to rest.
