The Disney+ adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a brilliant adaptation of the Rick Riordan novels. One of the best parts of the show is Aryan Simhadri’s performance as Grover, Percy Jackson’s best friend.
In speaking with Simhadri, his love of both this franchise and mythology as a whole shines through, and it highlights why his take on Grover is so good. When I said to him that I was a little too old for the book series when it came out but that this show makes me very excited to dive into it, he brought up how this franchise inspired his own love of Greek mythology when he was reading the books as a kid.
“I’m just really glad that people seem to be liking the show,” he said before explaining how his own love of the franchise got him into mythology. “Percy Jackson is what got me into Greek mythology and now I love everything about it. So, I’m just glad that people who couldn’t grow up with the books are getting a venue into Greek mythology. Because, I mean, Greek mythology’s the best. It teaches you about life, about yourself on a smaller scale. And I think not knowing anything about that is just a tragedy.”
That reminded me of something that Simhadri said back during the press conference about his love of Hadestown. When I brought it up, he excitedly shared that his vinyl of the cast recording was behind him, which makes sense because the musical uses Greek Mythology to bring the love story of Eurydice and Orpheus to a new audience.
Outside of our chat about mythology, Simhadri talked a lot about the show and what he loves about Grover! You can see our full conversation here:
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is on Disney+ now! If you haven’t dived into the series, watch it! What are you doing? It’s so good!
(featured image: Disney+)
