Ben Davis will join the Broadway cast of Hadestown in the role of Hades beginning September 1, 2026, stepping into the part left vacant after Geno Segers' departure from the production.

Producers Mara Isaacs, Dale Franzen, Hunter Arnold, and Tom Kirdahy announced the casting on August 4 (Deadline). Davis takes over a role that has been in flux since Segers, who had been set to begin performances in September, exited the show after public outcry over old social-media posts reflecting antipathy toward trans people. Segers apologized on Instagram, saying he never intended to inflict harm. He is out of the production permanently, with the decision stemming from past online anti-trans comments that resurfaced on theater blogs (Deadline).

Davis arrives with a deep Broadway résumé. He most recently appeared as Father in the Tony Award-winning revival of Ragtime. His credits also include Once Upon a Mattress, New York, New York, Dear Evan Hansen, Violet, A Little Night Music, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Baz Luhrmann's La Bohème, and Les Misérables (Deadline).

Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell's folk- and jazz-inflected musical retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, plays at the Walter Kerr Theatre (Theatermania). The new principal company Davis joins features Jasmin Savoy Brown as Eurydice, Norbert Leo Butz as Hermes, Amber Iman as Persephone, and Kayko as Orpheus.

For a long-running show, a cast change like this is routine business — roles turn over, contracts end, new actors step in. What made this one unusual was the speed and cause of the vacancy: Segers had been announced for the part and never played it, undone by posts from before his involvement with the show. Davis now takes the role of Hades, the lord of the underworld, starting Tuesday, September 1.