Timothy Simons Says It Was ‘Really Fun’ to Film “Percy Jackson” Series Because His Kids Were So ‘Passionate’ About Books (Exclusive)

For Timothy Simons, getting cast in Percy Jackson and the Olympians has a special resonance.

As the hit Disney+ original series — based on the popular books by Rick Riordan — returns for its second season, the Nobody Wants This star will play the recurring role of Tantalus, a newly appointed activities director at Camp Half-Blood, Variety reported in August.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE ahead of his Coors Light 2025 Super Bowl ad, Simons, 46, says that the role was especially exciting for his twin 13-year-olds — who had just picked up the book series for the first time a few months before he was cast.

“They loved them,” the actor says of his kids’ relationship to the books. “It’s very fun to know that I can do something my kids are into.”

Related: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2: All About the Disney+ Show's 'Bigger and Even Better' Second Chapter

The role marks a new adventure for the actor, who is best known for his recurring character across all seven seasons of the raunchy comedy Veep, playing foul-mouthed White House staffer Jonah Ryan.

“We haven’t shown them Veep yet for very obvious reasons,” Simons tells PEOPLE. “But this was really fun for them ... to see something that they’re passionate about that I got to be in.”

The actor adds that the young cast members of Percy Jackson “were really gracious” when he told them about his kids’ love of the book series.

“I brought up some books and the cast all signed the books,” says Simons, adding that his kids “were over the moon.”

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“I don’t know how long those positive vibes are going to last,” jokes the dad about his teenage kids. “There are a lot of emotions running around my house, and usually they’re directed at me.”

In addition to Simons, the series will welcome a host of new cast members for season 2: The Deliverance's Andra Day as the goddess Athena; The Half Of It’s Daniel Diemer as Percy's Cyclops half-brother Tyson and Resident Evil's Tamara Smart as daughter of Zeus Thalia Grace.

Walker Scobell will return to the series as Percy, Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth Chase and Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood, as well as Toby Stephens and Virginia Kull, who play Percy’s parents.

Simons tells PEOPLE it was particularly fun to work on the set of Percy Jackson because many of the adults on the show “get to be the fools” — while “everything is deadly serious” for the younger characters.

“The adults get to be a little bit scary in moments and goofy,” says the actor. “We can really have fun and be a little bit bigger — because essentially I was doing mask work. I had two and a half hours in the makeup chair every morning.”

“I had a really wonderful time,” he says.

Read the original article on People