Lin-Manuel Miranda is too famous for his Percy Jackson casting

Disney Plus is adapting Rick Riordan’s popular Percy Jackson series. So far the casting announcements have been **boss kiss emoji**. Starring three young and relatively unknown actors who Riordan swears will embody the characters fans love. As for the adult cast, there were some fantastic choices – Jason Mantzoukas as the reluctant camp counselor and wine god Dionysus, for example, and Canadian wrestler Adam Copeland as Ares, the aggressive god of war. Every casting announcement has just been made So to the point, which increases the excitement.

It was inevitable that they would screw it up.

Disney recently announced that Lin-Manuel Miranda – from Hamilton, in the heights, Moanaand charm Fame, to name a few – will guest star as Hermes, the messenger of God. Well, Hermes doesn’t play a big role in Percy Jackson’s first book, so it’s likely Miranda won’t have a major appearance on the show. But the fact that he’ll be there feels like a misstep.

While Miranda is a phenomenal songwriter and lyricist, his singing and acting skills are…good. His best work happens when he’s behind the camera (or stage, or piano, or whatever metaphor you want to throw in here). Don’t look any further live‘Netflix’ animated Kinkajou film starring Miranda as t he titular monkey. or Its dark materials

, another adaptation of a popular children’s series, in which he plays Texas balloonist Lee Scoresby. Either way, it feels like Miranda is simply playing a version of herself instead of the character, like Vivo and Lee are simply Fortnite skins for the Miranda character.

Unfortunately, the audience for this show — namely, Gen Z’ers who grew up with or still actively read this book series — isn’t as enthralled with Miranda as her older millennial siblings. The composer is a notorious meme on social platforms like TikTok. In July 2020, Insider reported

a huge wave of memes revolved around a particular selfie of Miranda biting her lip. It’s not that young people hate him… it’s just that he’s a little shy to them.

But ultimately it feels so out of step because Miranda is compared to the rest of the cast to famous. Yes, Mantzoukas has a sizable following, but he’s not nearly as well known as Miranda. Percy Jackson is meant to focus on the young characters, with all the adults just there to support their stories. But having a very famous face in the mix, even if only for a few moments, could detract from their accomplishments.

Of course, we won’t know until we see the show — and who knows? Perhaps Miranda’s interpretation of the Greek god will blow us all away.

The Percy Jackson series is expected to arrive on Disney Plus sometime in 2024.