For Jay Duplass and his household, Tuesday nights are reserved for Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Proper when new episodes drop, you’ll find Duplass — who performs Hades within the present — sitting on the sofa together with his spouse, their 15-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son, and their two canine, dinner on the prepared, desperate to dive into the subsequent installment of Percy’s (Walker Scobell) mythic adventures. For Duplass, a filmmaker and actor recognized for his work on motion pictures and TV exhibits like Clear and Togetherness, Percy Jackson and the Olympians marked the primary challenge of his that his kids might watch him in.

“Not solely is it the very first thing that they’ll watch me in, but it surely’s definitely their favourite ebook sequence of all time,” Duplass advised Mashable in a video interview. “They’ve learn the entire books at the very least 5 instances. They’re rabid, rabid followers.”

The thought of being a part of an adaptation of this scale intrigued Duplass. “It is at all times fascinating strolling into a bit of artwork that you just already find out about. Largely, it was a curiosity of questioning how they had been going to do issues,” he stated. “It was simply cool to enter the universe. I actually did not go in with tremendous sturdy concepts about what I needed to do with Hades till I actually obtained there and began working an increasing number of with [the showrunners] to attempt to determine precisely the way it needs to be.”

Now, with the discharge of Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ seventh episode, “We Discover Out the Fact, Type Of,” Duplass’ kids — and the remainder of the world — lastly get their first glimpse of his tackle Hades. That is as a result of after a sequence of lethal encounters with Greek gods and monsters, this episode sees Percy, Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries), and Grover (Aryan Simhadri) attain the Underworld eventually, the place they hope to confront Hades, the would-be lightning thief.

“I have been watching each episode as they launch and coming to phrases with the truth that Hades is the objective of the journey. Like, ‘Boy, I hope I did a superb job!'” Duplass stated. “I am largely simply nervous as as to if my youngsters are going to love my portrayal of this particular person. They’ve very, very sturdy concepts.”

By the point our essential trio confronts Hades, Percy Jackson and the Olympians has already constructed up its personal set of concepts as to what to anticipate from the God of Demise. An exiled Olympian with a grudge towards his brothers Zeus (Lance Reddick) and Poseidon (Toby Stephens), Hades has all of the makings of an excellent highly effective boss battle for Percy. But when Percy reaches Hades’ palace, he finds a really completely different type of god: One who’s sassy, exasperated by his brothers’ drama, and simply actually needs his helm of darkness again.

Enjoying up the comedy of Hades’ true nature begins proper from his entrance, when he leisurely strolls throughout his huge entry corridor to greet Percy and Grover. “I bear in mind the director Anders Engström telling me, ‘Do not even really feel like you might want to rush. That is the large second, we have been ready your complete present to get right here, so let it unfold as it should unfold,'” Duplass stated. “We needed him to really feel lived-in and like he had been round a goddamn very long time.”

Jay Duplass as Hades in “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”
Credit score: Disney / David Bukach

Between sassing Percy and Grover and asking for his helm again, Hades delivers one of the vital dramatic turns of the present. As quickly as Percy brings up the potential for Kronos’ return, he jolts into severe mode, angling to achieve management of the Grasp Bolt to be able to defend the Underworld. “There’s all these hints that there is much more happening right here, and clearly the top of this journey units the stage for future books and a a lot larger stage for conflict and battle and drama and battle,” Duplass stated of taking part in this dramatic shift. “That was a reasonably cool second to be part of.”

Duplass was on set for one week filming his one scene this season. “That is wild for me as a result of I initially come from the impartial movie world, the place usually I might shoot a six- or seven-page scene in half a day,” Duplass stated. “Clearly this can be a very curated world, and there is plenty of pictures concerned.”

In one other bounce from impartial movie, the scene in Hades’ palace was shot on an enormous 360-degree stage surrounded by LED screens often known as a “quantity.” The thought is to show environments on the screens to be able to create a larger sense of immersion.

“It was actually a 360-degree view of the Underworld, so you actually obtained to really feel it,” Duplass stated. “It was simply superb to get that feeling of the loneliness the place Hades is and the expanse of it.”

Regardless of the grand scale of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Duplass described the capturing atmosphere as pretty tight-knit. “As massive because the present is and as massive because the world is, it additionally felt like a household making a present on the similar time,” he stated. “Rick [Riordan] being there on a regular basis, he and I had plenty of conversations each creatively but in addition nearly life, and it felt like a really personally made piece of artwork. It is in all probability one of many bigger issues that I’ve ever been concerned in, but it surely nonetheless felt like a selfmade factor.”

As for Duplass’s Percy Jackson–loving kids, did they ever ask him for spoilers and hints in regards to the capturing course of?

“They have not requested me something particular about it, however they’ve undoubtedly been calling me Hades for just like the final three months,” Duplass stated. “Actually dinner will probably be prepared, and my daughter will probably be like, ‘Hades!’ Simply holler it at me. It is so enjoyable.”

The finale of Percy Jackson and the Olympians premieres Jan. 30 at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+.