Percy Jackson and the Olympians star Leah Sava Jeffries has asked fans to stop speculating about a real-life romance between her and co-star Walker Scobell, ahead of the show's third season. "I ship Percy and Annabeth, mind you, not Walker and Leah," Jeffries said in an interview with Variety.
"We have to get it out here." Jeffries and Scobell, both 17, play Annabeth and Percy in the Disney+ series, which is based on Rick Riordan's bestselling books. The characters develop a romance in the novels, but Jeffries wants viewers to separate the fictional relationship from the actors' own lives.
She said the pair had previously talked about addressing the rumours in interviews, hoping to end them. They both "love Percy and Annabeth", she said, and think their on-screen love is a "beautiful relationship." As she put it: "We're gonna clear this up now before I get on this press tour." Jeffries also joked about how fans read into their smallest interactions.
"The funny part is, we won't look at each other, and [fans will] be like, 'They love each other so much that they won't look at each other.' But then we'll look at each other [and fans are like], 'Wow, look at him looking at her.' So like, should I become blind?
What's going on, y'all?" She later shared a clip of the interview on her Instagram Stories, writing: "Y'all this better be me and Walker's last time saying this." The comments come as the show returns for season three on Friday 20 November, on Disney+ and Hulu.
The new run adapts Riordan's The Titan's Curse, the first time the 2007 novel has been depicted on screen. The earlier Logan Lerman-led film series ended after The Sea of Monsters, the second book.
Scobell told PEOPLE that Percy is "forced" to "step up" this season when Annabeth is captured by Kronos. "He's relied on Annabeth before to be the one to make these decisions and figure out ways out of these things.
There's growth there, to emotionally regulate everybody, but Percy has to step up," he said.