The Disney+ series has also found its Demeter and Apollo.

Percy Jackson casts a Disney Princess as Hera, queen of Olympus, for season 3

The Disney+ series has also found its Demeter and Apollo.

By Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2019 and is a published author. Her work has previously appeared in *TV Guide Magazine*, E! News/E! Online, *The Hollywood Reporter*, Mashable, Bustle, IGN, DCComics.com, Inverse, *The Daily Northwestern*, and more.

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February 19, 2026 3:50 p.m. ET

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Walker Scobell on 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians'. Credit:

Disney/David Bukach

*Percy Jackson and the Olympians* has added some Disney royalty to the season 3 cast.

** has confirmed that Disney Princess actor Ming-Na Wen has joined the series as Hera, the queen of Olympus and matriarch to all the Greek gods.

The *Mulan* legend will guest-star beginning in season 3, and fans of Rick Riordan's book series know just how pivotal this character is.

Ming-Na Wen at the 'Karate Kid: Legends' premiere in New York.

Craig T Fruchtman/FilmMagic

Not only is Hera the wife of Zeus (Courtney B. Vance, who took over the role from the late Lance Reddick), she's also the goddess of marriage and family. That means Zeus' infidelity, which led to the creation of his demigod child Thalia (Tamara Smart), is a personal offense to his wife. Essentially she hates all demigod children, because they all come from affairs between gods and humans, and that leads to plenty of conflict for Percy (Walker Scobell) and his friends.

And according to Hera's official character description for the show, Zeus' affair "rankles her." Described as "regal, maternal, and no-nonsense," Hera finds "leverage" in the family politics of Olympus due to having godly children on the council alongside her.

Best known for voicing the titular Disney Princess in *Mulan*, Wen can also be seen on the *Star Wars* series *The Mandalorian* and* The Book of Boba Fett*, as well as Marvel's *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.*

Jennifer Beals and Hubert Smielecki.

Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty; Hubert Smielecki/Instagram

Meanwhile, two more Greek gods have been cast for season 3. Jennifer Beals will play Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, the harvest, and the cycle of life and death. According to her character description, she's "a respected sister of Zeus" and "remembers the war against the Titans very well, and will do what she must to prevent the return of her father Kronos [Nick Boraine]."

*Flashdance* icon Beals has previously appeared with Wen on *Book of Boba Fett*, and her other screen credits include *The L Word*, *The L Word: Generation Q*, and* Luckiest Girl Alive*.

And Hubert Smielecki will play Apollo, the dazzling and charismatic god of the sun as well as music, poetry, archery, and prophecy. He is described as "the literal golden boy of Olympus and twin brother to the goddess Artemis [Dafne Keen], the moon to his sun."

'Percy Jackson's' Tamara Smart says playing Thalia 'helped heal' after Lance Reddick's death (exclusive)

'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' stars on season 3 moments they're excited to film (exclusive)

Relative newcomer Smielecki was recently seen in flashbacks on Netflix's *Ransom Canyon*.

*Percy Jackson and the Olympians* season 3 will adapt the story of *The Titan's Curse*, the third book in Riordan's best-selling series. However, a massive twist in the season 2 finale teased potential changes from the source material with the circumstances surrounding Thalia's return, since she didn't die fighting the Furies like everyone has believed. Her father, Zeus, actually turned her into a tree against her wishes because she renounced him and refused to be his "weapon" against Kronos.

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"The last line of the *Sea of Monsters* book is Percy looking at Thalia and saying, 'I was looking at a person who could be my best friend or my worst enemy.' There's a huge promise to that, that we just want to make sure that we play that," executive producer Craig Silverstein previously told EW. "And it plays a lot better if Thalia has a real grudge against her father and Olympus. It makes everything to come just that much more active and real. It feels like a huge change. It's a huge shock."

*Percy Jackson* season 3 is currently in production, and will debut later this year on Disney+.

*Variety* first reported this casting news.

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