Being the face of a beloved Joss Whedon franchise is a good way to become a geek hero real fast. It worked for Sarah Michelle Gellar. Worked for David Boreanaz. And to a smaller extent it's worked for Eliza Dushku, who will forever be branded a "touch" chick because she played one on two of his shows. But there's nobody who saw more of benefit from the Whedonverse than Nathan Fillion.
The former Captain Malcolm Reynolds from Whedon's western space opera, Firefly, is currently starring in the ABC mystery series, Castle. He'll also appear in Whedon's small budget Much Ado About Nothing, which should open some time later this year. Fillion's name gets thrown into the mix for every role with even a hint of pop culture significance, whether it's as the Marvel Comics superhero, Ant-Man, or the lead role in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. What he'll do instead is a play a god. A really fast god. With wings on his head.
Fillion will don his winged Nikes as Hermes, the god of speed, in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. The sequel to 2010's update on Greek mythology brings back Logan Lerman as the titular demigod, on a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The Hermes role was played by Dylan Neal originally, but with the character likely to play a larger role this time, a more recognizable face was called for. Hermes is the father of Luke, one of Percy's primary enemies and portrayed by Jake Abel.
Alexandra Daddario and Brandon T. Jackson will be back as Percy's two closest allies. Douglas Smith, Mary Birdsong, Yvette Nicole Brown and Missi Pyle will co-star in the Thor Freudenthal directed film when it opens on March 27th 2013.
