Why ‘Percy Jackson’ Changed Tunnel of Love Scene to Show Hephaestus

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[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 1 Episode 5, “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers.”]

Ahead of the release of Percy Jackson and the Olympians Episode 5, author and series co-creator Rick Riordan said on Instagram that this is the episode “where things REALLY get cooking.” He wasn’t kidding. “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers” features the debut of not just one god, but two: AEW star Adam “Edge” Copeland as Ares, and Psych alum Timothy Omundson as Hephaestus, the god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, and more.

Hephaestus’ presence in the episode is actually a departure from the source material. In Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (the book on which Season 1 is based), Hephaestus doesn’t actually show up and meet the questing demigods. In the Disney+ adaptation, he does, bringing another exciting element to the fan-favorite Tunnel of Love scene — another pivotal book moment that the movies left out. (Ares isn’t even a character in the films. You’ll understand why that was an unfathomable omission in future episodes.)

Percy (Walker Scobell), Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries), and Grover (Aryan Simhadri) are criminals on the run after being framed for the St. Louis Arch explosion and demolished train cabin in Episode 4. Percy’s stepfather, Gabe Ugliano (Timm Sharp), has made matters worse by giving a disparaging news interview about Percy during which he blamed the teen for Sally Jackson’s (Virginia Kull) disappearance, but mostly for “stealing” his beloved vintage Camaro. Now, Percy’s face is on an FBI watchlist, and the cops are searching for him and his friends, making buying tickets for any mode of transportation a bad idea.

Without any better ideas, the trio starts walking to their destination, Los Angeles. But with just days left before the summer solstice deadline (the date they have to get Zeus’ master bolt returned or else they face an Olympian war), this journey is starting to look impossible. In comes Ares on his roaring motorcycle, suggesting they meet at a nearby diner to strike a deal.

Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth in Episode 5 Tunnel of Love scene (Disney+)

“There’s an amusement park up the road. I left my shield there. You get my shield back, and I’ll get you to the Underworld by lunch tomorrow, with a plan to invade Hades’ palace,” Ares tells the teens. They eventually agree to the plan and to have Grover stay back as collateral. The scenes with Grover and Ares in the diner provide fun character development for the satyr, as we see more of his savvy side as he appeals to the egotistical god to extract information. This is also a book change, as Grover goes to the amusement park with his friends in the novel. In this case, the departure from the source material was an improvement to the story, as it gave us the first true “Percabeth” scenes and gives Grover some solo time to shine. He also gets clues about who really stole the master bolt at the last solstice celebration on Olympus. We’ll learn his theory in Episode 6.

Percy and Annabeth make their way to the amusement park, which Annabeth deduces was created by Hephaestus. This sequence (and the episode at large) really kicks the romantic storyline that book fans know is coming between Percy and Annabeth into gear. The teens go on the Tunnel of Love ride, which features a fun needle-drop as the story of Hephaestus’ difficult origin story is told in animation on the tunnel walls.

As told in the myth, the son of Zeus and Hera was rejected by his father and thrown down from Olympus. The fall severely injured Hephaestus, leaving him disabled. The disability became an excuse for the other Olympians, including his wife, Aphrodite, to treat Hephaestus like an outsider.

Hephaestus placed his magical, golden throne at the end of the Tunnel of Love that traps those who sit on it. Ares had a secret, lusty meeting with Aphrodite in Hephaestus’ amusement park, prompting the forge god to take Ares’ shield. The only way to release the shield from the golden throne was for one of the demigods to sacrifice themselves and let the chair trap them. Percy, who had just used his growing aquatic powers to save Annabeth from drowning in the tunnel’s waters, refuses to let her suffer this fate, no matter how many times she calls him “seaweed brain.”

Walker Scobell’s Percy gets trapped in Hephaestus’ golden throne in Episode 5 Tunnel of Love scene (Disney+)

In the book, this moment is broadcast to Olympus by Hephaestus, but the god is not seen. The series had Hephaestus appear in person in the following sequence when Annabeth tries to free Percy from the gilded trap. Annabeth pleads that Hephaestus let Percy go, saying that Percy rejects how badly the Olympians treat their family members wholeheartedly. Riordan tells TV Insider why Hephaestus is the one god on whom this argument would work and why it meant they needed Hephaestus to appear on-screen.

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“I loved [Omundson]. He’s so amazing. He’s such a great person and such a role model,” Riordan says. He says there was no “dream casting” the Percy Jackson roles, rather they were searching for actors who loved the source material and had a real eagerness to be involved.

“I wouldn’t have necessarily thought, ‘Aha! I know who Hephaestus will be,'” Riordan adds, “but we did know that it was going to be important to have Hephaestus represent the disabled community because Hephaestus is a disabled god. It was important that we honor that part of who his character is by finding an actor who knows that journey, who knows what that is like.”

Omundson suffered a major stroke in 2017 that paralyzed his left arm, hand, and leg. Riordan says they “saw a many range of great actors” for the role, “but my goodness, I mean, I have loved Tim since Psych. He has such range. He can do drama; he can do comedy. Even though we don’t see him much in this season, in the book, you don’t see him at all in The Lightning Thief. So it’s a real treat that we were able to add him in a little bit.”

The television medium, Riordan says, leaves room for creative exploration that can’t be accomplished when you’re reading only from Percy’s point of view. This allows for Hephaestus’ appearance, Annabeth and Grover’s scenes away from Percy, and an upcoming flashback with Sally and Poseidon to be created for the show.

“Even in the few moments, he does interact with our youngsters in a way that tells you that maybe this is one of the gods who actually gets it, who sees all of the silliness of Olympus, sees past it, and knows that it’s an illusion and sympathizes with the demigods,” Riordan says of Omundson’s character. “He’s got heart, and you can see that he’s wearing the hurt of his experiences openly. And I think it’s a beautiful thing about him. He’s somehow an immortal, all powerful, but also he is in a way fragile, and that makes him somehow more human.”

There are more exciting gods still to meet in Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 1, such as Toby Stephens‘ Poseidon, Jay Duplass‘ Hades, and the late Lance Reddick‘s Zeus. Next week, we’ll see more of Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s Hermes. Stay tuned to TV Insider for an interview with Omundson about his appearance in Episode 5.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Tuesdays, 9/8c, Disney+