Courtney B. Vance takes on the role of Zeus in ‘Percy Jackson’ finale

A new god has claimed Mount Olympus.

The season two finale of Percy Jackson and the Olympians introduces Courtney B. Vance as Zeus, bringing the god of thunder back to the screen following the death of Lance Reddick, who originated the role in the series before passing away in March 2023.

Vance has been candid about the weight of stepping into a part so strongly tied to a close friend. On his first day on set in Vancouver, Vance asked the entire crew to pause for a moment of silence in Reddick’s memory before cameras rolled.

Though brief, Zeus’s appearance on the finale episode carries major narrative consequences. While the character does not appear directly in Rick Riordan’s The Sea of Monsters, the television adaptation expands the mythology. The creative team explained that the finale’s inclusion of Zeus is designed to reshape the audience’s understanding of divine politics and to plant seeds for conflicts yet to come.

The scene is framed as a flashback centered on Thalia Grace, Zeus’s demigod daughter. Previously believed to have been turned into a tree as an act of salvation, Thalia’s story is revisited with a more unsettling perspective. Zeus arrives amid chaos at Camp Half-Blood, not to save her, but to secure her allegiance for an approaching war among the gods. 

When Thalia refuses to submit, his decision was to turn her into a tree to guard Camp Half-Blood.

Season two of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is now available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu. Filming for season three is currently underway in Vancouver.