Here’s why a key Percy Jackson villain was recast for season 2, as per the books’ author

A key demigod in Percy Jackson and the Olympians was recast for season two. The books’ author has explained why this change to the cast was made, and it hints at what’s to come later in the show.

So, in the world of Percy Jackson, Chris Rodriguez is a demigod son of Hermes. He did pop in briefly at Camp Half-Blood in season one of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and was played by Andrew Alvarez. However, he was recast as Kevin Chacon for season two.

There’s a big reason behind the cast change. The shows’ creators are going deviate from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books and expand Chris Rodriguez’s role in the story. So, they picked a different actor to portrays Chris going forward.

Rick Riordan, the author of the books, explained to Entertainment Weekly: “When we were looking at what are we going to do in season two where the character comes a little more into the forefront, that’s the casting that made sense at the time for that part.

Chris in season one of Percy Jackson and the Olympians
(Image via Disney+)

“So much of it is who’s the best for the part, who’s available for the part, what makes sense with the timing? So this is really the first time that you see Chris Rodriguez as a full character, so it wasn’t really so much of a recasting thing. It was just finding the way to make that part work with the right person who was available.”

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The TV show’s co-creator Jonathan E Steinberg said that Chris mostly appeared in season one as a sort of “Easter egg for the fans”, and at that point they “weren’t really thinking” about the long-term. He’s only referred to as “Chris” in the credits, without the surname. They’ve changed their tune on this now. “We wanted to just do a slight course-correct there while still keeping as much continuity from the first season as we could.

In the Percy Jackson books, Chris is part of Luke Castellan’s group of rebel demigods who fight for the main villain Kronos. In the fourth book Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth, Clarisse finds Chris when the ghost of King Minos has driven him to insanity. Clarisse really tries to help him as she once had a crush on him. She struggles, and it’s all super sad. In the fifth book The Last Olympian, Dionysus (who is the god of madness, among other things) cures him. He switches sides from the villains, and does start dating Clarisse.

Chris in season two
(Image via Disney+)

So far, we’ve seen much more of Chris before he joins Luke than we ever did in the books. It seems likely that the show’s creators plan to focus on his character and his relationship with Clarisse much more than in the books.

Jonathan E Steinberg continued to Entertainment Weekly: “This will be fun for people who know the books to see where these characters are when we meet them. And as you get deeper into the story, you start to realise there are things you want to do that some of those decisions have made complicated. Wanting to start a Clarisse story with Chris a little bit fresh and not have it feel like Chris was so tied to Luke in the way that season 1 would have, it required us to separate those two ideas a little bit and give one of them a fresh start.”

Even though Chris was recast in the Percy Jackson show, the first actor, Andrew Alvarez, still gets to appear as a demigod attending Camp Half-Blood. So, we can all imagine that there are two separate people called Chris, and reconcile this plot hole in our heads.

Can’t wait.

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