“Percy Jackson” Author Stands Up For Young Actress

In May of 2022, a new TV adaptation of the young adult novels Percy Jackson was announced to start casting and production. With the help of the author of the books, Rick Riordan, the series hopes to be more truthful to the story and themes. Once the casting was announced to the public, it was revealed that the character Annabeth Chase would be played by black child actress, Leah Sava Jeffries. This upset some fans of the book claiming that casting choice wasn’t accurate and was the act of Disney trying to be “woke”, a term referring to being alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.  In the course of the controversy, Jeffries TikTok account was deactivated after mass reporting from angered users claiming that she was under the age restriction set by TikTok. 

A few days after the attack, Riordan came online and defended the casting stating  “You either are not aware, or have dismissed Leah’s years of hard work honing her craft, her talent, her tenacity, her focus, her screen presence. You refuse to believe her selection could have been based on merit.” Leah as a choice in the  casting process is wholeheartedly supported by Riordan. He also stated that those so upset about it “didn’t learn anything from his books.” 

People online have called attention to the unjustness of a 12 year old’s need to defend themselves so harshly online and how it mirrors what happened to other actors like John Boyega in Star Wars and Amandla Stenberg in the Hunger Games movies. Though with all these comments the production is still being met with much excitement. As shown with the hashtag #leahisourannabeth showing up after the removal of her TikTok account.