Rick Riordan released the first book in his Percy Jackson and the Olympians fantasy series in 2005. The five-book fantasy novel series focuses on Percy Jackson, a young demigod. He learns about his special history and then gets thrown into stopping the Titans from destroying everything. We did get movie adaptations of the first two books in 2010, but they were not well received. (Rick Riordan himself wasn’t a big fan). But now, Percy Jackson gets another chance at an on-screen adaptation, this time on Disney+.
Here’s everything we know about the Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV series.
Title
This adaptation of Rick Riordan’s book is called Percy Jackson and the Olympians. This matches the title of Riordan’s overall book series centered on Percy Jackson.
Percy Jackson and the Olympian‘s Plot
Percy Jackson and the Olympians‘ teaser trailer gives us our first real taste of the series. The gods are gathering and everything in Percy’s life is about to change.
In a release, Disney+ shared that Percy Jackson and the Olympians…
…tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who’s just coming to terms with his newfound supernatural powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. Now Percy must trek across America to find it and restore order to Olympus.
So, first season is focusing on the first book, The Lightning Thief. In the book, Percy discovers the truth about himself and his background: he’s a demigod. He goes to Camp Half-Blood for the first time and meets others like him. Then, he goes on a quest with his closest friends Annabeth and Grover. Percy must find a thief who stole Zeus’ master bolt, all while reckoning with the identity of his father (I’m not sharing who, because spoilers) and his new life.
Behind the Scenes
Rick Riordan and Jon Steinberg wrote the pilot for Percy Jackson and the Olympians. James Bobin is directing the pilot. Steinberg will oversee the series with his producing partner Dan Shotz. Steinberg and Shotz serve as executive producers alongside Bobin, Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Bert Salke, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jim Rowe and Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, and D.J. Goldberg.
Season one of Percy Jackson and the Olympians will have eight episodes.
Percy Jackson and the Olympian‘s Cast
The cast for the Percy Jackson series is age appropriate for the series, which is a good start. Walker Scobell (The Adam Project) plays Percy Jackson. Aryan Simhadri plays Grover Underwood and Leah Sava Jeffries plays Annabeth Chase.
We also have:
- Virginia Kull as Sally
- Glynn Turman as Mr. Brunner, a.k.a. Chiron
- Jason Mantzoukas as Mr D.
- Megan Mullally as Mrs. Dodds
- Timm Sharp as Gabe
- Adam Copeland as Ares
- Suzanne Cryer as Echidna
- Jessica Parker Kennedy as Medusa
- Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hermes
- Jay Duplass as Hades
- Timothy Omundson as Hephaestus
- Lance Reddick as Zeus
- Toby Stephens as Poseidon
Riordan noted that these are all the main characters who will appear in season one.
Percy Jackson and the Olympian‘s Release Date
The Percy Jackson series will officially release on December 20, 2023. It will debut with a two-episode premiere and new episodes will follow weekly.
Originally published on August 3, 2022.
