Percy Jackson EP Remembers the Late Lance Reddick: ‘He Was an Exceptional Human Being’

The following contains spoilers from Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ Season 1 finale. Proceed accordingly.

In one of his final TV roles, the late Lance Reddick made a memorable appearance in Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ Season 1 finale on Tuesday as the mighty Greek god Zeus, who had zero patience for the titular demigod’s sassy remarks.

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The Disney+ show paid tribute to the late actor, who passed away suddenly in March 2023, at the end of Episode 8 with a title card that read, “In loving memory of Lance Reddick.”

Executive producer Dan Shotz also honored Reddick in an interview with TVLine, remembering him as a great man.

“I got to spend some real time with Lance in the weeks that we had him, and he was an exceptional human being,” Shotz shared. “I think about how he connected to the kids, what he brought to the show, the power, the soulfulness. He was incredible man, and it was pretty heartbreaking for all of us to lose him the way we did.”

The Percy Jackson EP noted that he was “unbelievably grateful that [Lance] got to play Zeus, and that the world is going to get to see him as Zeus — as the most powerful being in the world — because he deserved that. We think about him a lot.”

In the finale, Reddick embodied that god-like vibrato as Zeus conversed with Percy — the sky god nearly striking his nephew out of existence and the demigod implied there was a weakness in the family. Zeus only stoped when his brother Poseidon intervened and offered his surrender. Toby Stephens, who portrays the sea lord in the live-action show, said that he was devastated when he learned of Reddick’s passing.

“I remember the last thing I said to him before leaving was, ‘I’m really looking forward to working with you again,’ and it was genuine,” Stephens recalled. “I really enjoyed working with him and I was a big admirer of his.”

Stephens added that Reddick was “so physically impressive and perfect” as Zeus. The late actor also had “this powerful charisma and yet, was such a lovely, humble, regular guy as well… It was a great honor to work with him, and I was just so sad [when he died].”

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