Hades has arrived in Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and viewers will no doubt be curious who the latest actor is to bring the mysterious and isolated god of the dead to life.
Although Hades is often painted as a villain in stories inspired by Greek mythology, Percy Jackson has always depicted him as a more complicated and misunderstood god. As such, it’s not surprising that the show has taken a similar approach.
Initially, Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell), Grover Underwood (Aryan Simhadri), and Annabeth Chase (Leah Sava Jeffries) believe that Hades is scheming with Ares (Adam Copeland) to start a war between Zeus (Lance Riddick) and Poseidon (Toby Stephens). From the onset, even before the quest began, Hades was labeled as the main suspect in the thievery, even though there wasn’t a whole lot of evidence against him.
However, the latest episode proved that these suspicions were misguided. Hades is actually content to stay away from his family’s drama and doesn’t even want the Master Bolt. Instead, he simply wants his Helm of Darkness, which is also missing, returned to him, and is willing to save Percy’s mom and return her to him in exchange for his Helm. He seems to be the most level-headed god, who, unlike his relatives, found a unique and rather merciful way to get Percy to come to him rather than instantly trying to start a war over his missing item. The more nuanced depiction of Hades and his connection to fan-favorite book character Nico di Angelo makes him one of the most interesting gods in the Percy Jackson franchise, and it’s quite exciting to see him brought to life in such a book-accurate manner.
Who portrays Hades in Percy Jackson?
In Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Hades is portrayed by Jay Duplass. Recently, Duplass starred in Pain Hustlers as Larkin, the slimy marketing vice president of Zanna. Additionally, he has appeared in such works as The Oath, The Mindy Project, and Industry. Duplass is also a filmmaker known for writing the film Prospect and directing and executive producing Somebody Somewhere. However, as Duplass explained in an interview with Mashable, Percy Jackson and the Olympians was a particularly special project for him, as it marked the first one he could watch with his kids, who are also huge fans of the book series.
Given that much of the first season is a build-up to Hades’ entrance, he felt a bit of pressure to capture Hades’ compelling presence. He spent a whole week shooting his scene to capture Hades’ sassiness, loneliness, and frustration with his dramatic brothers. Since Duplass frequently works on indie projects, Percy Jackon and the Olympians may be the largest-scale series he has worked on before. He described it as a positive experience with a tight-knit atmosphere on set despite how big the production was.
Additionally, Duplass told The Daily Beast that he is definitely on board for season 2 should the series be renewed. He even discussed it with the Percy Jackson experts (his kids) and found that he might be able to make an appearance in Percy’s dreams. Even more interesting is that his kids want to play Hades’ onscreen children, Nico and Bianca di Angelo, on the show. It remains to be seen what Rick Riordan thinks about casting Duplass’ kids, but it’s encouraging enough that he’s open to returning as Hades, especially since the passion for the source material and skill as an actor evident in his one scene raises excitement for what else he could do as the god.
(featured image: Disney+)
