Percy Jackson Season 2 Episode 5 Introduces Two Iconic Heroes of Olympus Characters
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 has already proven itself to be bigger than ever with new arcs, characters, and much more. While the first episodes have fans rumbling about which characters from Rick Riordan’s books already appeared, like in Season 2 Episode 1, Season 2 Episode 5 introduces one that has bigger implications for the series’ near future.
This episode sees Percy (Walker Scobell) and Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries) ending up on Circe’s island after being swept up by their encounter with Charybdis and Scylla on Season 2 Episode 4. The duo find themselves in Circe’s illustrious resort, which is secretly meant to trick demigods into staying due to the threat of the Sirens. However, before the two meet the sorceress, they come across a peculiar assistant.
This assistant is known as Hylla, played by Jasmine Vega, who acquaints Percy and Annabeth to this locale. As a character who only appears on this particular episode, new viewers might only recognize Hylla’s role as one of Circe’s servants. For dedicated fans of the Riordanverse, Hylla is actually an incredibly important character in setting up Riordan’s second book series: The Heroes of Olympus.
Hylla, better known as Hylla Ramírez-Arellano, is a demigod daughter of Bellona, the Roman goddess of war. She’s the older sister of another Heroes of Olympus character: Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, who’s known to fans as Camp Jupiter’s former praetor. The sisters took refuge on Circe’s island due to their abusive father, who was too focused on Bellona’s warning about Rome’s downfall depending on them.
In Riordan’s second book in Heroes of Olympus, The Son of Neptune, Hylla became the Queen of the Amazons after the events of The Sea of Monsters. She held some resentment against Percy due to him destroying Circe’s resort, which Hylla considered to be her home.
Some time after Percy and his friends defeated Kronos during the Battle of Manhattan, Hylla would get her chance to confront Percy and his Roman demigod allies, Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang. However, at this point, Hylla and Reyna had split up, with Reyna taking up the reigns at Camp Jupiter, the Roman pantheon’s equivalent to Camp Half-Blood.
The show seemingly takes a different approach with Hylla’s introduction and future involvement. Although Episode 5 does follow the plot of these particular chapters from Riordan’s book, it also makes a significant departure. Whereas the book saw Circe’s resort being destroyed by Blackbeard’s pirate gang, Episode 5 doesn’t see this happening at all. This change is also significant as it might potentially shift the arcs of both sisters.
Though Reyna isn’t introduced until the Heroes of Olympus series, it should be noted that Hylla and Reyna were together on Circe’s island in the second book. After Percy and Annabeth freed Blackbeard and his crew, the pirates kidnapped the sisters aboard Blackbeard’s ship and kept them imprisoned for months. However, Hylla proved her skills to the pirates, helping the two gain their freedom.
Since it’s never made clear whether or not Blackbeard and his crew took any hostages after Percy and Annabeth’s arrival, it’s likely that Hylla and Reyna could still be on Circe’s island. On the other hand, it could be very likely that these events with Hylla and Reyna could have happened off-screen once Percy and Annabeth journeyed to face the Sirens.
This would not be the first time where the Percy Jackson show made an attempt to introduce future characters. In Season 1 Episode 6 “We Take a Zebra to Vegas,” fans believed that they heard a small child, potentially Nico di Angelo, calling out for his sister, Bianca, while Percy was trying to find Grover. This was partially confirmed by Riordan over on GoodReads before Levi Chrisopulos was officially cast as the son of Hades for Season 3.
Still though, the on-screen introduction of Hylla has certainly opened up the door for Disney+ to explore the Roman side of the Percy Jackson world in the near future. Although a possible Heroes of Olympus adaptation is still far away from happening, the likelihood for Riordan’s sequel series has become much greater now.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 Episode 5 is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. New episodes release Wednesdays through January 21, 2026.
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Christopher Gallardo is a freelance entertainment writer and critic. While not running The Reel Roller, Chris can be found writing reviews and breakdowns on all things films and TV. Outside of entertainment writing, he’s currently taking classes for a Bachelor’s of Science with a minor in Digital Media & Journalism. Plus, he loves Percy Jackson, animated films and shows, and Fallout! Follow Christopher on Instagram & X.