Why Chris Rodriguez Character Was Recast In 'Percy Jackson' Season 2, Producers Explain Reason

If you’ve been keeping up with Percy Jackson and the Olympians, you may have noticed one character looked quite different in season two than season one.

Kevin Chacon was cast and assumed the role of Chris Rodriguez, “who like Luke is a son of Hermes and is part of his group,” taking over the part from Andrew Alvarez, who played the character in the first season.

Now, with the first two episodes out now, and Kevin‘s first appearance in season two episode two, producers on the show are explaining why he was recast.

Keep reading to find out more…

“I don’t remember what we called him, but yes, he’s still in the show,” co-creator Jonathan E. Steinberg told EW of Andrew. “He was only really named Chris in the credits [in season 1], but it was almost an Easter egg for the fans. It wasn’t something that we had really sort of made substantive. We wanted to just do a slight course-correct there while still keeping as much continuity from the first season as we could.”

“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,” executive producer Craig Silverstein added. “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.”

Author Rick Riordan, who is an executive producer on the show, adds that yes, Andrew was credited as “Chris” in the credits, but “it was not really ever obvious who that character was.”

“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,” he continued. “So much of it is who’s the best for the part, who’s available for the part, what makes sense with the timing? 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.”

According to IMDb, Andrew will return in the season two finale.

Co-creator Jonathan E. Steinberg notes that they weren’t “really fully thinking” about where Chris would go in future seasons, and wanted to separate him from from season one and season two.

“This will be fun for people who know the books to see where these characters are when we meet them,” he said. “And as you get deeper into the story, you start to realize there are things you want to do that some of those decisions have made complicated. Wanting to start a Clarisse story with Chris a little bit fresh and not have it feel like Chris was so tied to Luke in the way that season 1 would have, it required us to separate those two ideas a little bit and give one of them a fresh start.”

If you missed it, find out what the Percy Jackson stars said about what was most challenging going into season two vs season one.