Two goals in 18 minutes from forward Nicolas Jackson set the tone for Senegal’s Group D win over Botswana at AFCON 2025.
Published On 23 Dec 202523 Dec 2025
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Bayern Munich striker Nicolas Jackson grabbed a brace as Senegal eased to a 3-0 victory over Botswana in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Tuesday.
Jackson, on loan at the Bundesliga giants from Chelsea, struck either side of half-time in Tangier, with Cherif Ndiaye completing the scoring late on.
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The victory took Senegal to the top of the table in Group D on goal difference, ahead of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), who beat Benin 1-0 in Rabat earlier.
It was a predictable outcome to the first match of the tournament for both teams as Senegal are 119 places above Botswana in the world rankings.
Senegal and DRC, both former champions, are expected to fill the top two places and qualify for the round of 16.
Benin and Botswana will view their clash on Saturday as a must-win affair, giving potential victors a chance to fill one of four places in the knockout stage reserved for third-placed teams.
Torrential rain greeted the teams as they walked onto the pitch at the 75,000-seat stadium, the biggest by capacity of the nine being used in Morocco for the tournament.
Senegal had a great chance to take the lead within three minutes in a one-on-one situation, but goalkeeper Goitseone Phoko blocked a shot by Jackson.
Two-time African Player of the Year Sadio Mane, Iliman Ndiaye and Jackson all came close to breaking the deadlock as the Teranga Lions dominated possession, while the Zebras defended in depth.
Jackson scores during the match against Botswana [Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP Photo]
Botswana waste chance
While Senegal and former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy was a mere spectator, Phoko was constantly in action, using his hands, feet and legs to keep the West Africans at bay.
But endless Senegalese pressure finally reaped a reward in 40 minutes when Germany-born Ismail Jakobs and Germany-based Jackson combined to put one of the title favourites ahead.
Jakobs cut in from the left and pulled the ball back to Jackson, who reacted instantly, using his left foot to steer the ball wide of Phoko and into the net.
Botswana, who qualified at the expense of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers Cape Verde, finally threatened to score in added time at the end of the opening half.
But they failed to take advantage of a free kick just outside the area. A weak shot was deflected for a corner that was overhit and went out of play beyond the far post without being touched.
A flowing move from midfield with quick, crisp passing set up Jackson to double the lead after 58 minutes.
When the ball was worked to him in the box, the 24-year-old rounded Mosha Gaolaolwe and tapped home.
Cherif Ndiaye put the cherry on the cake for Senegal as he finished smartly at the end of another fine team move in the 90th minute.
Confident his team were cruising to victory, Senegal coach Pape Thiaw introduced 17-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye from European champions Paris Saint-Germain midway through the second half.
The teenage striker last month became the youngest Senegalese scorer in an international when he netted in an 8-0 rout of Kenya in an AFCON warm-up match.
Manchester United target Antoine Semenyo in January transfer, Ruben Neves wants Premier League return, Bruno Fernandes’ release clause revealed and Bukayo Saka on the verge of signing ‘record-breaking’ Arsenal contract.
Manchester United will go all-out to sign Bournemouth and Ghana forward Antoine Semenyo in January and hope the uncertainty over Pep Guardiola’s future at Manchester City could boost their chances of landing the 25-year-old. (Telegraph – subscription required), external
Portugal international Ruben Neves, 28, has rejected a new contract at Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal and wants a return to Europe with Manchester United a possible destination for the former Wolves midfielder. (Times – subscription required), external
Manchester United will only consider selling Kobbie Mainoo, 20, in the January transfer window if they receive an exceptional offer and the club are equally reluctant to let the England midfielder leave on loan. (Sky Sports), external
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca, 45, is high among the candidates Manchester City are considering if Spanish manager Pep Guardiola, 54, leaves the Etihad Stadium next summer.(Athletic – subscription required), external
Saint-Etienne have rejected an initial offer of 8m euros (£7m) from Chelsea for Djylian N’Guessan, 17, but would consider selling the French striker for 12.5m euros (£11m). (L’Equipe – in French), external
AZ Alkmaar’s talented Dutchman Kees Smit, 19, is one of four midfielders being monitored by Newcastle, while Toulouse’s French defender Dayann Methalie, 19, is also thought to be high on their wishlist. (Mail – subscription required), external
Manchester United and Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes, 31, has a clause in his contract that means clubs outside the Premier League can buy him for £56.6m. (Mail – subscription required), external
Atletico Madrid are interested in signing England forward Marcus Rashford, 28, who is currently on loan at Barcelona from Manchester United. (Fichajes – in Spanish), external
It is very unlikely Bayern Munich will exercise the option to make Nicolas Jackson’s loan move from Chelsea permanent in the summer, with the 24-year-old Senegal striker used as a back-up for England international Harry Kane, 32. (Bild – in German), external
Bukayo Saka, 24, will become the first player in Arsenal’s history to earn a weekly wage of £300,000, with the club close to announcing a record-breaking new deal for the England winger that will run until 2031. (Teamtalk), external
West Ham winger Luis Guilherme wants to stay and fight for his place at the club, despite reports linking the 19-year-old Brazilian with a move in January. (Sky Sports), external
National League side Morecambe are interested in extending the loan of Arsenal defender Maldini Kacurri, with the 20-year-old Albania international also attracting interest from clubs higher up the football pyramid. (Sun), external
I was in awe of the cavern’s striations and white globs of minerals dripping from its ceiling. The experience stuck with me, enough that in this week’s Wild, we’re exploring more about the geology of our local mountains.
And we’re in luck! This week, the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park debuted “Unearthed: Raw Beauty,” an exhibit of rare earth minerals, including several from Southern California.
Visitors will see blue cap tourmaline, crystals named after their blue tops, and other tourmaline crystals mined in San Diego. They’re estimated to be 100 million years old!
Tourmaline grows in Southern California inside rocks called pegmatites, which are “basically granite that had time to grow large crystals. These rocks form when hot magma cools and hardens into solid rock inside Earth’s crust,” according to the museum. (We’ll talk more about pegmatites in a minute.)
While at the opening night event for the exhibit, I spoke to two experts to better understand all that rocks and rolls around us: Aaron Celestian, the curator of mineral sciences at Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and Kriss Leftwich, collections manager of mineral sciences at the Natural History Museum.
My main question for them was: How can hikers better understand what they’re seeing and hiking over and around?
Let’s dive into what I learned, which I’ve compiled for you into a brief beginner’s guide. It rocks!
A lone hiker takes in sweeping views of the Santa Monica Mountains at Eagle Rock along the Backbone Trail in Topanga State Park.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
What minerals can be observed in the Santa Monica Mountains?
The sediment and minerals of the Santa Monica Mountains were formed over millions of years, including through a process of ocean transgression and regression, Celestian said.
As Earth went through its natural periods of warming and cooling, ice sheets would melt and grow, causing sea levels to rise and fall. When sea levels rose, water moved further inland, covering ancient beaches and sandstone in layers of marine sediment, including shells and skeletons of sea animals. When the sea levels would fall, the water would recess, causing more beach material and sediments close to the shore to layer over the marine layers, he said.
Parts of the Santa Monicas were previously a beach-type environment that eventually developed into sandstone that we see while out hiking, Celestian said.
As this geologic report on the Santa Monica Mountains points out, “Sediments that were deposited in marine settings millions of year (sic) ago now sit high in ridges and peaks of the park as a result of tectonic forces and the uplift.”
The sunset seen from the Ray Miller Backbone Trail in Point Mugu State Park.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
The Santa Monica Mountains were formed over millions of years through a process called “compression,” where tectonic plates force land upward, and tectonic folding, where the rock bends instead of breaking.
Celestian said the Santa Monica Mountains originally ran along the coastline, but “they started to rotate horizontally … [because] there’s a fault that actually rotated the Santa Monicas perpendicular.”
“They call them the Transverse Ranges because they got twisted,” he added.
Because of the diversity of our mountains and how they were formed, geologists (or lucky hikers) might find surprising micro-environments with unexpected minerals.
One way these can be formed is through the cooling process of a magma chamber. “It’s releasing lots of water, and that water is like a convection cell, and it circulates through it, and it concentrates metals in various areas. So you can get these little pockets of random crystals that you’ve never seen before because of how the water cooled,” deep underground, Celestian said.
While out hiking recently in the Santa Monica Mountains, he found lots of invertebrate fossils at the top of a mountain. And then he found a “huge pocket of quartz underneath a tree” with nothing else around it, likely due to a geological process that developed a micro-environment.
A close look at a tourmaline on feldspar on display at the “Unearthed: Raw Beauty” exhibit at the Natural History Museum.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
What types of minerals might we notice while hiking in the San Gabriels?
As you hike in the San Gabriels, you may notice striations in rock walls, like large white rock with little black veins. That was likely a quartz-rich rock with mica, a flaky, “very glittery” mineral that will resemble the texture of eye shadow, Leftwich said.
“When it’s black, it’s biotite, and when it’s purple, it’s lepidolite,” Leftwich said, adding there are several other types of mica.
If lucky, hikers might observe pegmatite, which is essentially a rock with large crystals forming within it, she said.
Leftwich said the pegmatite on display at the museum could have been in a cooling magma chamber or a similar environment. The large hunk of rock — visitors are encouraged to touch it — features large plates called albite or cleavelandite, which are types of feldspar, a group of minerals “distinguished by the presence of alumina and silica in their chemistry,” according to Minerals Education Coalition.
Celestian said the reason that hikers might observe a lot of quartz, feldspar and mica in the San Gabriel Mountains is because the range is “mostly like old basement volcano rocks.”
“It was like magma chambers that cooled down deep in the earth, and over time, that got pushed up to the surface, and that’s what we have in the San Gabriels and surrounding mountains,” he said.
A tourmaline on quartz on display at the “Unearthed: Raw Beauty” exhibit. The piece is from the tourmaline King Mine in San Diego County and is estimated to be 100 million years old.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
Are there any tools I can carry as a hiker to help me identify rocks?
Celestian has tested apps that claim to be able to identify rocks and has found they’re correct only about 10% to 15% of the time.
“A lizard is going to have the same morphology every single time. A bird is going to have the same morphology every single time. A mineral is not,” Celestian said.
Hence why it’s so hard to develop an app. Calcite, he said, can grow in hundreds of different forms, making it near impossible for an app to recognize it just by using a phone’s camera.
Still, the best tool for beginners is your phone’s camera because you can take photos of the rock in question for later research.
Taking pictures and “just trying to figure out your environment is really exciting,” Celestian said. “It matters a lot because all of the resources that we have available to us today came from the earth, and knowing more about how that came about, how much time it takes to create these things, adds a different perspective of Earth’s resources and how we appreciate them.”
A pegmatite rock on display at “Unearthed: Raw Beauty.” Attendees are allowed to touch and interact with the rock as part of the exhibit.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
To take the most useful images for mineral identification, I’d recommend reading the rock key from the Mineralogical Society of America before heading out. It will help you understand the types of pictures you need to take (especially since on our public lands, you’ll be leaving the rock where you found it).
For example, the first question on the rock key is, “Is the rock made of crystal grains? (Does it have a lot of flat, shiny faces — maybe tiny to small — that reflect light like little mirrors? You may need to use a magnifier.)” To answer that question, you’d want to ensure you captured those characteristics in your photographs.
A piece of gold stands on on display at “Unearthed: Raw Beauty.” The piece is from the Mother Lode District in El Dorado County.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
How can a hiker learn more about our local geology?
One of my biggest takeaways from my conversations with Celestian and Leftwich was our local geology varies widely, and thus, there’s a lot to learn. But that complexity opens up a great opportunity to find community.
You can join one of several local geology groups where hopefully you’ll find not only knowledge but also new friends. And for anyone wanting to dive a little deeper, there are local caving groups like the SoCal Grotto, which teaches its members how to explore safely and responsibly, along with hosting experts at its meetings where members learn about a range of earth science topics.
A final thought
“Look under the rock before you pick it up — because of spiders and snakes,” Celestian said.
3 things to do
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
1. Celebrate New Year’s Day hiking around L.A. California State Parks will host its annual First Day Hikes on Jan. 1 at more than 60 of its parks, including across L.A. At the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park near Simi Valley, hikers can arrive by 11 a.m. for a stroll past its narrow canyons and hulking rocks. Mount San Jacinto State Park will host a snowshoeing hike at 11 a.m. for hikers willing to take the tram up. Or if you’re perhaps feeling like a later start, Malibu Creek State Park will host a guided night hike at 5 p.m., where hikers will trek under an almost full moon. Learn more, including how to register, at parks.ca.gov.
2. Nurture native plants in Agoura National Park Service and Santa Monica Mountains Fund need volunteers from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday to restore native plants around Cheeseboro Canyon. Participants will plant hundreds of live plants grown from locally collected seed. Register at eventbrite.com.
3. Capture the sunset in Borrego Springs The Anza-Borrego Foundation will host photographer Paulette Donnellon to teach a sunset photography class from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 3 at the park. Donnellon will share tips on how to shoot wildlife and landscapes before leading students into the desert for both golden hour and “blue hour” just after sunset. The class is $100. Register at theabf.org.
The must-read
Joseph Brambila vanished on Mt. Whitney in early November. This image is from a previous climb in the summer of 2025.
(Joseph Brambila)
Like many Southern California hikers, 21-year-old southeast L.A. County resident Joseph Brambila had fallen in love with Mt. Whitney. Only a four-hour drive north of L.A. to its trailhead, Mt. Whitney is the nation’s tallest mountain outside of Alaska. In early November, Brambila was reported missing, his last known location being Mt. Whitney. Times staff writer Jack Dolan spoke to Brambila’s family about the budding alpinist, highlighting what kept Brambila coming back to the mountain. “He always said he loves to disconnect from the real world,” his girlfriend, Darlene Molina, said. “He just wanted to be out there and enjoy life. … It was just him, nature, and God.” On Monday, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office announced it had recovered the body of a young male hiker that fit the description of Brambila. He is the second person believed to have died near a steep, icy section of trail known as the 99 Switchbacks.
In reading Dolan’s story, I felt like I got a brief glimpse into the excitement and love that Brambila carried with him into the mountains. It’s an energy we can all relate to, one that keeps us returning for more.
Happy, safe adventuring,
P.S.
This is the final Wild for 2025. If you’d like to catch up on all we’ve covered, head over to our archives or my author page. The most-read Wild of the year was this piece about Austin Nicassio, founder of Accessible Off-Road, a nonprofit aimed at bringing off-road mobility devices to parks and trails around L.A. If you’re reading this as an email, consider replying and letting me know what you’d like to see more of. Yes, I read your last emails and I do plan to write more in 2026 about hikes in Orange and Ventura County. I love hearing from you and I cannot thank you enough for your support of The Wild. Happy holidays, friends!
For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.
This past week, my dear friend Bob and I went to Griffith Park in search of a little bit of holiday magic in the hillsides. We were looking for bright red toyon.
In the fall and winter, toyons produce iconic red berries, a signal that the temperatures are lowering around L.A. and that winter is coming.
“Though the most common name ‘toyon’ is thought to be a Spanish alteration of the plant’s Ohlone name (“totcon”), Indigenous peoples around California have given the plant many names,” according to environmental nonprofit TreePeople. “It has also more recently been referred to as ‘California holly’ or even ‘Christmas berry’ due to it’s similar appearance to English holly in the winter months.”
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For many Angelenos, myself included, toyon brings about a warm sense that the winter holidays are nearing too.
“During the fall season, after several months of growing and maturity, toyon fruits change color from green to red; it’s a signal to birds and other larger animals that a meal is ready for them,” wrote Jorge Ochoa, a professor of horticulture at Long Beach City College. “It is also during the fall that the hills of Griffith Park are adorned with striking red colors reflecting the many toyon plants growing in the hills of the park.”
Although Los Angeles County is warmer in the winter and thus doesn’t produce iconic scenes of a winter wonderland, you can easily drive nearby and find it, whether it’s by hiking past toyons, frolicking in the mountain snow or, as you’ll see here, catching a cosmic light show during Hanukkah.
If L.A. is your ho-ho-home for the holidays, I hope visiting these three natural places below helps you catch the holiday spirit, regardless of how you celebrate. Let’s sleigh these trails! (I had to!)
Bright red toyon berries in Griffith Park.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
1. For red berry bliss: Griffith Park’s Five Points-Beacon Hill Loop
The Five Points-Beacon Hill Loop is a six-mile moderate hike past several toyon trees, laurel sumac and California black walnut (with bright yellow leaves at the moment).
Friends of Griffith Park developed that trail option as part of the Griffith Park Explorer, 15 routes along more than 50 miles of trails in L.A.’s outdoor sanctuary. As someone who has gotten lost (or just forgot where I parked) in Griffith Park more than I will readily admit, I am grateful for these efforts.
Also, the Griffith Park Explorer makes it easy to discern which trails will provide the best red berry bliss! If you’d like to determine the best trail for your physical conditioning that has toyons, you can look at iNaturalist, a citizen science app, to see where toyons grow in the park and match that with the best Explorer trail.
That’s how I identified the Beacon Hill loop. As Bob and I started our hike, I quickly spotted red berries on the hillside. We also savored the quiet that Griffith Park offers just before sunset as the hillsides become blanketed in yellow, orange and scarlet light. At Beacon Hill, I paused and took in the clear views that winter brings. I felt grateful to be here now, which, to me, evokes gratitude and joy, two essential elements of the winter holiday season.
Distance: A six-mile loop Elevation gained: About 1,200 feet Difficulty: Moderate Dogs allowed? Yes Accessible alternative:Bette Davis Picnic Area
The snow-covered road to the Buckhorn Campground in Angeles National Forest in 2024. The campground is a common spot for anyone near L.A. who wants to snowshoe and frolic in the powder.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
2. For snow-dappled trees: Buckhorn Campground trail
The Buckhorn Campground in Angeles National Forest is a special place to me, bringing me and my family joy every season. In the winter, it is often covered in snow, as it sits above 6,000 feet in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Crunching over the snow-covered road into the campground this past March — the campground is closed for camping in the winter — I was transported back into a childlike sense of wonder. The evergreen conifers towered above, like giant Christmas trees for squirrels, deer and bobcats.
The view of the snowy mountains near Mt. Hawkins from Angeles Crest Highway in the Angeles National Forest on Nov. 23.
(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)
If you celebrate Kwanzaa, Buckhorn would be a great place to visit to observe multiple of the seven principles, including unity, as you and your friends and family slog through the elements together. (Microspikes recommended!)
And if you can’t make it up to the mountains, but still want to observe Kwanzaa with community, the annual Unity Run/Walk is scheduled for Dec. 27 at Balboa Park in San Diego. Either way, you can be in a natural environment hopefully in unity with each other and nature.
Distance: Varies Elevation gained: 300 to 500 feet Difficulty: Easy to lower-level moderate Accessible alternative: Large turnouts after snow along Highway 2 east of Camp Valcrest
A Perseid meteor streaks low in the sky in this 16-second exposure, as seen from White Tank campground in Joshua Tree National Park early on Aug. 12, 2024.
(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)
3. For cosmic candlelight: Joshua Tree National Park
On Dec. 21, during the second to last night of Hanukkah (and also the start of the winter solstice), the Ursids meteor shower will peak, allowing anyone watching to see around five to 10 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society.
If you’re celebrating Hanukkah, you can experience your own cosmic Festival of Lights as the sky lights up during the meteor shower at Joshua Tree National Park. I checked, and there are still several campsites available at the park on the peak night. It’s also a great place to celebrate the winter solstice, lighting a campfire (if allowed under fire restrictions) and taking in the natural elements. There are endless hiking options too.
If you want to camp closer to home, you could try Chilao Campground in Angeles National Forest for a darker sky option. (Chilao is at 5,300 elevation, and it’ll be cold. And it is sometimes closed because of snow.) To check whether it’s open, you can call the Angeles National Forest office in Acton at (661) 269-2808. The office is generally closed Wednesday and Thursday, so another option is to call the Gateway District office at (818) 899-1900.
Either way, be prepared for an awe-inspiring light show, a beautiful way to be together with the people you love (who can also keep you warm, in body and spirit).
Happy holidays to you, my dear Wilder!
3 things to do
Members of Paddle LA and OC participate in annual Christmas paddles near Long Beach, dressing in festive costumes.
(David Sanchez)
1. Paddle past pretty lights in Long Beach Paddling LA and OC will host an evening paddle from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday through Alamitos Bay to observe holiday lights near the water. Guests are encouraged to don holiday costumes and light up their boards with good cheer. All skill levels are welcome, but paddlers need to be comfortable in the water after dark and around slow-moving boats. Register at eventbrite.com.
2. Secure Fido’s ranger badge in Calabasas Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will host its B.A.R.K. Holidays event from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at the King Gillette Ranch visitor center. Dogs and their owners can visit ranger-led booths and take part in a special swearing-in ceremony where pups will earn their official B.A.R.K. Ranger badge. Learn more at the park’s Instagram page.
3. Hike among native plants in Sylmar Scorpio Gardens, a queer, Latinx-owned native plant landscape design company, will host a hike along the May Canyon trail from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Sunday at Veterans Memorial Community Regional Park in Sylmar. Guests will first be guided in mindfulness and stretching before heading onto the trail. Hike leaders will help participants with native plant identification, discussing the roles the plants play in the larger San Fernando Valley ecosystem. The event is free, but donations are welcome. Register at eventbrite.com.
The must-read
(Ruthy Kim / For The Times)
In highlighting these hikes and natural places where you can celebrate the holidays, I don’t want to seem oblivious or excessively positive. It would be a massive understatement to say it has been a hard year for L.A. “In the past 12 months, we’ve witnessed homes destroyed by fire, families broken up by ICE, skyrocketing anti-trans hate and massive layoffs across the entertainment and media industries leaving thousands in our city unemployed,” wrote Times staff writer Deborah Netburn. Amid all this devastation, it is even more important to try to find joy. That was the message Netburn heard from experts she spoke to about how to still find joy this holiday season in L.A. Joy is an essential element of our lives, refilling our tanks not only to help us survive but also to keep doing good in the world. “The purpose of oppression, hatred and discrimination is to disconnect us and dehumanize us,” said Thema Bryant, a psychologist and minister at First AME Church in Los Angeles. “It is an act of resistance to say, ‘I’m not going to give all my peace to those who are working to stress me out.’”
Happy adventuring,
P.S.
For almost 20 years, the Mojave Desert Land Trust has worked to preserve prime desert habitat, protecting more than 125,000 acres of California desert. Recently, the trust acquired 1,280 acres at the entrance to Mojave Trails National Monument, a massive swath of federal land south of Mojave National Preserve that had been suffering from illegal dumping, graffiti and more. If you’d like to help support the trust’s efforts to protect the desert, consider attending a fundraiser at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Last Bookstore in Studio City. Barret Baumgart, author of “Yuck,” and Josh Jackson, author of “The Enduring Wild,” will discuss their books that underscore the importance of protecting our diverse desert landscape. Guests can imbibe free beer and buy signed books and limited-edition desert posters and tote bags. Half of sales will support the trust. 🏜️
For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.
The newest chapter of the Disney Plus series has arrived on the streaming service, with the opening two episodes now available. Viewers will need to tune in weekly as Percy and his companions embark on a fresh quest into unexplored territory.
The streaming giant reveals: “After Camp Half-Blood’s protective border is breached, Percy Jackson embarks on an epic odyssey into the Sea of Monsters in search of his best friend Grover and the one thing that may save the camp – the legendary Golden Fleece.
“With help from Annabeth, Clarisse and his newfound cyclops half-brother Tyson, Percy’s survival becomes essential to stopping Luke, the Titan Kronos, and their impending plan to bring down Camp Half-Blood – and ultimately, Olympus.”, reports the Express.
Despite only two episodes being released, there’s already been plenty of thrilling moments for audiences – with one sequence leaving the cast particularly impressed.
Viewers will remember scenes featuring chariot racing, an ancient mode of transportation and competitive sport that involves controlling a two-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses.
Leading star Walker Scobell, portraying Percy Jackson, has spoken candidly about the chariot sequences and the “crazy” and perilous nature of filming them.
Walker revealed: “So on the first day of filming I didn’t know I was going to do any chariot riding, right? Because it’s so dangerous: I got to watch some test footage of them going out and messing around out there before we were filming and it looked terrifying.
“I was like, ‘Okay, I’m not doing that.’ But I get there on the day and they’re like, ‘Hop in! Just kind of drive the chariot around the second part of this oval stadium and then park right in between these two horses…’ So, I had to learn right there. It was crazy.”
For Leah Jeffries, who portrays Annabeth Chase, the chariot sequences proved equally memorable, describing it as “one of my most fun days.”
Executive producer Jonathan Steinberg acknowledged the ambitious nature of the scene, explaining it was among the elements he was most eager for audiences to witness: “Our goal was to push this thing as far as it would go and then push it a little further. The chariot race was scary.
“I mean at the end of the day, we want the show to be great and we take that really seriously, but we also want everybody to be safe and okay. And strapping kids to horses at full speed… it just doesn’t seem like a good idea when you start planning it.
“So, the fact that we were able to do that and have it turn out great and also have everybody walk away from it smiling was a big deal.”
Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2 is available to stream on Disney Plus.
