Tamara Smart, known for her role in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, faced a significant challenge when stepping onto the set for the show’s second season, but she embraced it with enthusiasm.

**Caution: Spoilers for Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2, currently available on Disney+**

In Season 1 of the adaptation based on Rick Riordan’s beloved series, Smart’s character, Thalia Grace, was mentioned only in passing. However, in Season 2, Episode 4, the demigod daughter of Zeus makes a dramatic entrance through flashbacks. Her character, initially frozen in time as a tree at the edge of Camp Half-Blood, ultimately comes back to life by the season’s end. This unexpected revival creates tension among Percy (played by Walker Scobell), Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries), Grover (Aryan Simhadri), and Luke (Charlie Bushnell).

So, how did the Resident Evil star prepare to portray a character who is both absent and present in such a unique way? Smart shared her approach in a recent interview with DECIDER.

“I did quite a bit of research into coma patients, as it’s a similar concept,” Smart explained. “I read a lot of self-published writings from individuals who had experienced long-term comas. It’s fascinating to explore the idea of being inactive for so long, yet still somehow aware.”

Transforming into Thalia also turned out to be a healing experience for the young actress as playing the daughter of her mentor, Lance Reddick — who played Zeus in Season 1 before his death and worked with Smart on Resident Evil — helped her to grieve and heal from the loss.

As for what it was like entering the fandom in the second season, what she is most looking forward to exploring in Season 3, and more, check out DECIDER’s full interview below.

DECIDER: I want to start by asking about your tribute to Lance at the London premiere. Talk to me about stepping into this role after his death?

TAMARA SMART: I think that was something that was really weighing on me when first auditioning for this or even deciding to audition for this show. Obviously, I had recognized what the character was and who I would be auditioning as, but I think that at the beginning of this, it was a big decision whether or not to audition — which, I look back now, and that’s ridiculous because I was always going to audition for it. — but, you know, the idea of not getting it to me was this huge kind of heartbreak. And so obviously I took the risk because who wouldn’t? And then coming onto the show, I think that it was this weird feeling of excitement and nervousness and almost dread because I knew I had read the book, so I knew what was going to be coming up eventually.

We hadn’t really had the conversation yet about recasting or not recasting, and that was something that I think I was really nervous about. I don’t really know why. It ultimately just felt so fateful and something that was meant for me and something that weirdly, I think I was always going to do. I don’t know how to explain it, but yeah, I think that Season 2 was specifically such a healing experience for me. I don’t think I ever thought I was going to grieve and heal as much as I did, and even watching it back has been so incredible and exciting.

Well, you also have a scene in that final episode with Courtney B. Vance. What was it like working with him? It builds a lot of tension for what’s to come.

It really does. The books were so much tension, but Rick really said, “We’re bringing it up,” so that’s what we did. It was incredible. Courtney is an icon in film and television, let alone in the world. He’s just the best. He was so humble and generous and kind and just a true light in a day that was really kind of dark for me. I hadn’t met him before then, and we only had that one day of shooting. And so it was kind of this amalgamation of feelings shoved into one evening, which is kind of chaotic for anyone. But he was lovely. He immediately walked onto set, grabbed a mic and was like, “Hey, we’re doing a minute of silence for Lance,” which was incredible and made me extremely emotional. And it makes me feel extremely emotional now. He is truly one of the best in the business, and I could not have picked anyone better to do this, to pick up the torch from Lance.

I wanted to ask you, too, about the difficulty of playing two distinct versions of Thalia, pre and post-tree. How did you approach that task?

I really like that question. Actually, I did kind of a lot of work. It’s one of those things that is very niche and not something you can necessarily research. But I worked with our amazing coach, Andrew McIlroy, and did this meditation experience, and I would do it quite often just to remind myself where I was at. I also did quite a bit of research into coma patients because that’s kind of a similar thing. And so I did a lot of research and read a lot of self-published writings from people who had been in long-term comas. And it’s a very interesting concept of being out of action for so long, but also being present.

That’s so intriguing. Do we think we’ll continue to see that carry into Season 3?

Yeah, I think that there is so much of the story that we don’t see. We get to see these very important chunks of time in the flashbacks in Season 2, but I think there’s a lot of trauma that she still carries around Annabeth and Luke. And just as a person, and I think we will definitely come to see that, I think that it’s very interesting to see the character relationships between Thalia and Percy with the difference of their, not upbringing, but almost growing up.

When I talked with Walker a couple of weeks ago, he said that you and he are probably the most like your characters and that, even behind the scenes, there’s definitely the banter that’s there.

Yeah, definitely. 

One of the things he’s most excited for fans to see in Season 3 is that antagonistic friendship. Is that up there for you?

100%, I think that we had so much fun. I mean, I think that as much as the end of Season 2 is a cliffhanger, it was, for us, even an experience because we were like, “Oh, we’re having so much fun with this.”We were so excited to come on Season 3 and explore that and see what it was going to look like. But definitely, we have so many arguments all the time about like I always compare our relationship to annoying cousins who always have a little argument about something or other, and it’s usually about the show, which is so funny. Like, who is the strongest demigod? Generally, though, I think I’m excited to see people’s reactions to the relationships with every character this season, because this is the first time we’re seeing her interact with almost everyone that we’ve seen in every season so far. And so that’s kind of this weird dynamic of, how is she going to interact with this person? Will she like this person?

I’ve heard that Season 3 is the most book-accurate, is there anything that, as somebody who had read the books, you were like, “Please, please, please do not cut this.”

So much, I loved The Titan’s Curse, so I think that there is so much action that I wanted to see. There’s so much character development I wanted to see. I think I always was very curious about the junkyard, too. And there also is something that is not in the books but is in the show and I’m very, very excited about that.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming.

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