After an an endearing comedic turn as young Ryan Reynolds in Netflix’s The Adam Project, Walker Scobell has been tapped to star as demigod Percy Jackson in the new Disney+ series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

The series is the second attempt to adapt Rick Riordan’s best-selling novels, following two feature films starring Logan Lerman as the titular hero. Those adaptations were poorly received and criticised in part for making significant changes to the novels, though the Disney+ series promises to go back to the text by casting an age-appropriate Percy.

Announcing the casting news on his website, author Riordan – who executive produces the series and co-wrote the pilot – writes: “Walker Scobell is an incredibly talented young man who blew us away with his audition tapes for the role of Percy. Many of you recently discovered how great Walker is when you watched his movie The Adam Project, in which Walker lit up the screen as a younger version of Ryan Reynolds’ character. We were fortunate enough to audition Walker months before that movie came out, but the film only confirmed what we already knew about his talent. It was obvious to me and the rest of the team that Walker had the perfect mix of comedic timing, sweetness, rebelliousness, snark and heroism to embody our hero Percy Jackson.”

The books tell the story of Percy, a 12-year-old modern demigod who is coming to terms with his newfound, inexplicable abilities. When he is accused by Zeus of stealing his master lightning bolt, Percy must trek across the US to find the real thief and return the stolen item to Olympus.

Production on the Percy Jackson And The Olympians series is set to begin this summer.