Percy Jackson and the Olympians suffered a major blow with the loss of its Zeus.
Lance Reddick, who played Zeus, the god of sky and thunder who is convinced that Percy (played by Walker Scobell) stole his lightning bolt, died at the age of 60 last year in March.
After the first season came to its conclusion with a tribute to the late actor with the finale dedicating a title card at the end of the episode.
Now, there are conversations as to who will fill in the shoes of Reddick with the show creators not having the heart to replace the actor.
Co-creator and executive producer Jon Steinberg said there’s “a little bit of denial” regarding the process of recasting Reddick, via People Magazine.
“In terms of Lance, I don’t think anybody’s there yet. I think we have a minute, I think, there’s also such a little bit of denial maybe that that’s something that we’re going to have to deal with,” Steinberg said at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour’s panel for the Disney+ series on Saturday.
“But we’re incredibly grateful for this character that he helped build and this presence that he created, and I do not envy whoever ends up having to step in his shoes.”
Executive producer Dan Shotz also shared that they received a text message from Reddick’s wife, Stephanie, about the matter.
“We recently got a text from his wife, who said how proud he would have been of seeing it and the work,” Shotz said.
“It was really a rough situation, and we miss him very much. But just the fact that the world got to see him in this iconic role that will live on forever.”