Percy Jackson & The Olympians EP opens up about the obvious recasting in Season 2

Percy Jackson & The Olympians Season 2 recently premiered with the first two episodes of Season 2, and apart from the exciting start of a new season and a brand-new adventure, there's another obvious change in the second season. The second season finds an official recasting of the demigod son of Hermes. The role of Chris Rodriguez was originally credited to Andrew Alvarez in the first season, but as the second season rolls around, the role is being played by Kevin Chacon.

Co-creator Jonathan E. Steinberg recently addressed the obvious recasting in Percy Jackson & the Olympians Season 2 in a conversation with Entertainment Weekly.

Keep reading to find out why this casting choice was made.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians quietly recast a pivotal role in Season 2

When Season 1 of Percy Jackson & the Olympians premiered, Chris Rodriguez did not have a pivotal role in the story by any means. However, Andrew Alvarez was still credited with the role in the season. But as Season 2 rolls around, fans of the Rick Riordan mythology are more than aware that Rodriguez would be playing an important role in the story.

So, the creatives behind the show were faced with the dilemma of considering who would take on the role after having credited Alvarez in Season 1. Steinberg explained in a conversation with EW:

"Chris' role was expanding, but also there was nothing in season 1 — I think it was maybe mentioned in a credit but nobody outright said 'that's Chris Rodriguez' in the show...But when we were looking at what are we going to do in season 2 where the character comes a little more into the forefront, that's the casting that made sense at the time for that part."

So, a decision was made to recast Kevin Chacon in Percy Jackson & the Olympians in Season 2, and considering the minor role that Alvarez had, he now continues as a similarly smaller character in the story, with Kevin taking over the substantial role of Chris Rodriguez in the narrative:

"It was not really ever obvious who that character was...And we're also able to take the character that Andrew played and carry that character forward as well. So I look at it as not a recasting, because the character that Andrew played that you met in season 1 continues, and Chris Rodriguez was always there as Kevin."

He concluded that for them, it was not as much a recasting as Chris Rodriguez wasn't a completely formed character in Season 1 of Percy Jackson & the Olympians, so Season 2 is the first time the audience meets this character:

"So this is really the first time that you see Chris Rodriguez as a full character, so it wasn't really so much of a recasting thing. It was just finding the way to make that part work with the right person who was available."

So, Chris Rodriguez has a fresh new start in Season 2 of the show, and a pivotal role in the story as Luke starts forming his rebellion against the gods.

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