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Disney+'s live-action television adaptation of Rick Riordan's hit Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series had a lot of key casting to manage. Not only were there key child roles to be cast in the main trio of Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, there was also the casting of some major Greek gods. Perhaps the lynchpin of which was Poseidon, god of the sea, and the titular character's absent father. 

At D23's Percy Jackson and the Olympians panel, Poseidon actor Toby Stephens surprised the audience on stage and chatted a bit about his journey to the show. In response to a moderator question about how he came to play Poseidon, Stephens shared, "Firstly I have to say that Dan Schotz and Jon Steinberg are great friends of mine. I worked with them for about four years on a show called Black Sails playing a psychotic pirate, and they thought it would be ironic for me to play Poseidon."

But really, what brought Stephens to the show was his relationship with the executive producers, Schotz and Steinberg. He said, "I desperately wanted to work with these guys." It also helped that he had a key family member who was a Percy Jackson fan.

"My son is a huge fan of the books," Stephens shared, "so he said 'I will disown you if you don't do it.'"  

Percy Jackson and the Olympians season one is currently streaming on Disney+.