Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle) has been cast as Hermes in the upcoming Percy Jackson sequel, The Sea of Monsters. For someone who is already worshiped as a Geek God, it’s only appropriate that he should land the role of a Greek god.

Hermes is a key supporting player in the Percy Jackson series written by Rick Riordan, as well as being the pivotal point for the main source of conflict in the books. Herme’s demigod son, Luke, becomes the main villain of the series, and the father-son dynamic between Luke and Hermes is the big reason why Luke goes over to the Dark Side in the first place. (Ha, I never realized how very Star Wars that is).

Depending on how the part is written, it may actually turn into a more melancholy role than we are used to seeing from Fillion of late. After all, absentee parenting is a central theme of the books; the gods are often absent from the lives of their demigod children, when they aren’t simply negligent. No god feels that harder than Hermes as he watches his son fight for the other side.

I’m thinking the role casting will be more Malcolm Reynolds and less Captain Hammer. But no matter what, it will be all Fillion, and that ensures the movie will be that much more awesome. This also means that, assuming the role of Zeus (played by Sean Bean, the actor who played Boromir in Lord of the Rings and Eddard Stark in Game of Thrones) remains the same, there is a chance for a Sean Bean/Nathan Fillion moment.

A nerd’s dream come true!

Sea of Monsters is slated to hit theaters some time in 2013. Fillion joins the cast of Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson), Alexandra Daddario (Annabeth), and Brandon T. Jackson (Grover). He replaces Dylan Neal who played Hermes in the first film, The Lightning Thief.

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Read more about books becoming movies:

• Book Watching: I am (Sexy) Number Four
• Book Watching: Trailer for The Hobbit is out
• Book Watching: Ender Wiggin finally cast
• Editorial: Book trailers the next big thing?
• Fantasy Watch: Fairy-tales the new trend?