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Black Girl Nerds sat down with the cast and creative team behind the hit Disney series Percy Jackson and the Olympians to discuss what fans can expect from the highly anticipated second season. Featured in our interviews are series stars Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson), Charlie Bushnell (Luke Castellan), Dior Goodjohn (Clarisse La Rue), Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood), Leah Sava Jeffries (Annabeth Chase), and Daniel Diemer (Tyson). Executive producers Jon Steinberg, Dan Shotz, Craig Silverstein, and author/co-creator Rick Riordan also joined us to share insight into adapting the beloved world for screen.
Season two draws from The Sea of Monsters, the second book in Riordan’s best-selling series. Picking up one year after the events of season one, Percy returns to Camp Half-Blood to find everything in disarray. His bond with Annabeth is shifting, Grover has mysteriously disappeared, and he discovers that he has a cyclops half-brother Tyson whose arrival brings both emotional complexity and unexpected humor. Meanwhile, camp faces growing threats as Kronos’ forces close in, setting the stage for a darker and more urgent adventure.
The cast reflected on stepping back into their roles with new emotional depth, while the producers discussed honoring longtime fans of the books and bringing fresh twists for new audiences. Riordan shared his excitement about seeing The Sea of Monsters brought to life with a balance of heart, humor, and high-stakes mythology.
This season sends Percy and his friends beyond familiar borders and into the treacherous Sea of Monsters, where unexpected revelations and dangerous challenges await the son of Poseidon.
Interviewer: Jamie Broadnax
Video Editor: Jamie Broadnax
Percy Jackson and the Olympians premieres December 10th on Disney+
The post Sea Of Monsters Get Deeper and Darker for ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.
Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively’s court drama continues as Baldoni and his Wayfarer studios are trying to get out of a court case. But Lively isn’t backing down and believes she deserves her day in court.
During the filming of It Ends With Us, Lively alleges that Baldoni reached out to her trainer, body shamed her, and created a hostile working environment on their film that extended into the press tour for the film. It has since heated up in a legal battle between the two.
You’d think a movie about robots punching each other would be fairly easy to write. Sci-fi actioner, maybe a sports movie, with charismatic human stars. Hell, Real Steel did it in 2011. But the road to getting Mattel’s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots movie off the ground has apparently been pretty tough. Fast and Furious franchise star Vin Diesel came on board the project all the way back in 2021 but nothing happened since then. Now, according to Deadline, Diesel is “Fine, I’ll do it myself”-ing it, adding writer to his list of credits along with star and producer.
Robbie Brenner, President of Mattel Studios and Chief Content Officer, who is also producing the movie, said, “Vin is a powerhouse storyteller with an unmatched understanding of action, heart, and world-building. His creative vision for Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots is bold, human, and deeply cinematic—exactly the kind of storytelling we love at Mattel Studios.”
Vin Diesel added, “I am excited to expand the Mattel universe by bringing this classic toy from my childhood to a modern audience by telling a story that examines the role of competition in a world often measured by strength and dominance that dares to reveal the power of compassion at its core.”
Mattel is hoping their Masters of the Universe live-action film does well next summer. The He-Man movie starring Nicholas Galitzine has a lot riding on it with perhaps the most name recognition following the success of Barbie. Also on the docket for the studio are movies for Matchbox, Polly Pocket, and the just-announced View-Master movie. Those are but three of the dozens of TBA projects. Mattel also owns the IPs Thomas the Tank Engine, Barney the Dinosaur, and Magic 8 Ball.
Mattel also owns Street Sharks, and we all know Vin Diesel knows all about those.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.
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