Percy Jackson Season 2’s Tantalus Actor Already Proved He’ll Nail The Role

Summary

• Timothy Simons’ role as Tantalus in
  Percy Jackson
  season 2 will likely capitalize on the actor’s sardonic and manipulative edge.
• Tantalus, a demigod king with a mean-spirited demeanor, will create challenges for Percy Jackson and his peers at Camp Half-Blood.
• Simons must walk a delicate line between nailing Tantalus’ cruelty without making him into a cartoonish antagonist.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has cast several second-season characters, including Tantalus — an openly hostile demigod king who crops up at Camp Half-Blood for the duration of Rick Riordan’s source material, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters. Tantalus is far from the only character whose casting has been revealed in recent weeks. During San Diego Comic-Con, Disney+ divulged that Daniel Diemer (The Half of It) will play Tyson, Percy Jackson’s cyclops half-brother. Weeks later, the streamer confirmed some choice casting for Percy Jackson season 2’s Gray Sisters.

However, none of the casting announcements are as worrying for Percy Jackson and his friends at Camp Half-Blood as the reveal that Tantalus will, in fact, make the jump from the pages of Riordan’s novel to the small screen. According to Variety, Timothy Simons, who’s best known for his role in HBO’s Veep, will play the ruthless demigod. Not only will the Tantalus actor join Diemer and the Gray Sisters’ performers — Sandra Bernhard, Kristen Schaal, and Margaret Cho —but the show’s impressive season 1 ensemble, which includes Walker Scobell’s Percy and Leah Sava Jeffries’ Annabeth Chase.

Timothy Simons’ Veep Role Perfectly Prepared Him To Play Tantalus In Percy Jackson

Veep’s Jonah Has A Similar Vibe To Percy Jackson’s Tantalus

Actor and comedian Timothy Simons is best known for playing Jonah Ryan on HBO’s Emmy-winning political satire Veep. The show centers on the dysfunctional office of Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who’s surrounded by aides who are both bumbling and ruthless. Jonah is a bit of both. Like many characters on Veep, Jonah is a narcissistic person who’s out for his own personal gain. Making allies (and messing with his colleagues and rivals) is all about advancing his political career, especially when Jonah lands the ego-stroking role of White House liaison to the VP’s office.

If there’s one thing everyone — even foreign politicians and random strangers — can agree on, it’s that Jonah is awful.

One of the funniest aspects of Simon’s role as Jonah Ryan is how other members of Veep‘s cast of characters react to him. Early on, everyone in Selina’s office is incredibly dismissive of Jonah. If there’s one thing everyone — even foreign politicians and random strangers — can agree on, it’s that Jonah is awful. While everyone on Veep is insulting each other left and right, Jonah Ryan has a distinct cruel streak, which he uses to advance his political career. There’s no denying that Veep prepared Simons perfectly for playing Percy Jackson‘s Tantalus.

Tantalus’ Role In Percy Jackson Season 2 Explained

Tantalus Becomes A Ruthless Camp Half-Blood Staff Member

In Rick Riordan’s second Percy Jackson novel, The Sea of Monsters, Tantalus is a demigod king who was sent to the Underworld’s so-called Fields of Punishment for trying to feed the gods human flesh. This was after Tantalus’ father, Zeus, offered him a seat at the Olympians’ table — a seat that was most definitely revoked after Tantalus’ trickery. Even for a demi-god, Tantalus is a mean-spirited figure. In Percy Jackson season 2, Tantalus will become the interim Activities Director at Camp Half-Blood, having replaced Chiron (Glynn Turman) who is under suspicion of having ties to Kronos.

Tantalus gets pleasure from mocking Tyson, Percy’s cyclops half-brother…

Described as sardonic, manipulative, and “openly hostile,” Percy Jackson‘s Tantalus is also cursed with eternal thirst and hunger, though he isn’t allowed to imbibe anything. Fresh off his internment in the Underworld, Camp Half-Blood’s newest staff member is sure to cause problems for Percy Jackson‘s cast of characters. In particular, Tantalus gets pleasure from mocking Tyson, Percy’s cyclops half-brother, and seems to favor Clarisse La Rue, one of Percy’s demigod rivals. That said, Simons will need to bring Tantalus’ mean-spirited demeanor to life without being cartoonishly evil.

Why Getting Tantalus’ Character Right Is So Crucial For The Disney+ Adaptation

Tantalus Could Be A Caricature If Not Done Correctly

The sophomore outing of Disney+’s hit series will pick up where Percy Jackson season 1’s ending left off. If the show follows the source material, Percy and Tyson will be whisked away to Camp Half-Blood, which is also in danger, pretty quickly. Needless to say, Tantalus will play a major role right off the bat, which means Timothy Simons needs to strike the right balance between cruelty and being a believable character. Given Tantalus’ awfulness, it would be pretty easy to make him into a cartoony caricature, so Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2 must tread carefully.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 1 is streaming on Disney+.