Now might be a good time to re-read Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians books before the adaptation hits Disney+ at the end of the year. This show only requires reading the main series (and maybe just the first book) before Camp Half-Blood comes to life on the small screen.
The first two episodes of Percy Jackson and the Olympians will premiere on the streamer on December 20, followed by one new episode per week. Christmas will be for Percy Jackson fans what Thanksgiving is for Hunger Games fans with the film adaptation of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes hitting theaters on November 17th. We are here for the literary revival of youth!
But back to the Greek gods, demigods and monsters – here’s everything we know about the upcoming Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians:
Is Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan involved in this?
Author Rick Riordan has dropped hints here and there about what to expect from this first season of the television series.
“Hopefully it will be one season for each book, which will give us time to do the whole story justice, as opposed to a movie where you have to make some cuts,” Riordan told TheWrap during the 2022 D23 Expo.
So it looks like the eight-episode first season will focus on the events of The Lightning Thief, the first book in the original quintet. From the characters mentioned below (and the teaser trailers), we can at least expect the harpy attack and encounter with Medusa that Percy has in the book.
Riordan wrote the first two episodes under the direction of Jon Steinberg and James Bobin. Steinberg and Dan Shotz serve as executive producers along with Riordan, his wife Rebecca, The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Bert Salke, The Gotham Group’s Jeremy Bell and DJ Goldberg, James Bobin, Jim Rowe, Monica Owusu- Bryn, Anders Engström and Jet. Wilkinson.
Will Riordan’s new Percy Jackson books be included in the show?
Riordan has just published the newest installment in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Chalice of the Gods, in which Percy must complete three quests to obtain three letters of recommendation from Mount Olympus to attend college. His senior year in high school just got a lot more difficult.
When Riordan spoke with TheWrap at the Chicago stop of his Cup of the Gods book tour, he couldn’t say for sure whether this part of Percy’s life would make it into the TV series.
“It’s too far over the horizon to know the answer. I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, right now we’re just focused on the first season. And if everything works out, who knows? You know, the children are absolutely delighted. Even after all the work they’ve done, they’re still really excited to get back to it, so I know they’re looking forward to everything that’s going to happen and we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Following the first five books of the original series, Riordan also wrote the Heroes of Olympus series, in which Percy and his friends from the Greek Camp Half-Blood on Long Island cross paths with Roman demigods hailing from Camp Jupiter in San Francisco. The quintet, starting with The Lightning Thief, will be the focus of the new Disney+ series.
“I would consider it a major victory if we could have five good seasons of television,” Riordan said. “This is a rare success these days. If we can capture the entire original Percy Jackson series and five seasons of television, that would be great. And everything after that will be gravy.
Who plays the main role in the movie “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”?
Walker Scobell, who broke into Hollywood with his role in The Adam Project opposite Ryan Reynolds, will play the titular demigod and son of Poseidon. Leah Sawa Jeffries will bring to life Athena’s daughter Annabeth, and Ariane Simhadri will play Grover, Percy’s secret satyr bodyguard.
“Even before we cast the actors (Scobell, Jeffries and Simhadri), we talked a lot with our team about how our main goal should be to support young actors so that they feel valued, safe and productive,” Riordan said TheWrap. during his book tour in Chicago for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Chalice of the Gods.
“And that they have a whole village of people around them helping them, and that our main job is to make sure they’re okay and feel good about what they’re doing. Because it’s really hard work. And put a lot of pressure on a 12-year-old or 14-year-old.”
Here’s the rest of the revealed cast for Percy Jackson and the Olympians:
-
Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson
-
Leah Sawa Jeffries as Annabeth Chase
-
Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood
-
Virginia Cull as Sally Jackson, Percy’s mom
-
Toby Stephens as Poseidon
-
Timm Sharp as Gabe Uliano
-
Glynn Turman as Chiron or Mr. Brunner
-
Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hermes
-
Jason Mantzoukas as Dionysus or Mr. D.
-
Toby Stephens as Poseidon
-
Jay Duplass as Hades
-
Timothy Omundson as Hephaestus
-
Adam Copeland as Ares
-
Lance Reddick as Zeus
-
Megan Mullally as Alecto or Miss Dodds
-
Charlie Bushnell as Luke Castellan, son of Hermes
-
Dior Goudjon as Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares
-
Olivia Morton as Nancy Bobofit
-
Suzanne Cryer as Echidna
-
Jessica Parker Kennedy as Medusa
Will The Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters star Alexandra Daddario appear as Annabeth?
Alexandra Daddario (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Sea of Monsters) has since starred in films such as Baywatch (2017) and Wildflower (2022), as well TV shows such as Mike White’s White Lotus. She told TheWrap she won’t be appearing on the show via the Unwrapped podcast.
“I liked Percy Jackson. Like me I loved This. When I walked into Percy Jackson and got this job, I had no idea what it was. I was a bit-part actor in New York, you know? I was a kid working in a bar and had no idea about Hollywood or any of this,” she said. “And so when I got this job, I really didn’t know what I was getting into. I knew it was a really big film. And it was the most amazing experience for a 22-23 year old guy.”
As for the rest of the cast of the films “The Lightning Thief” and “Sea of Monsters,” nothing has been said about this yet.
Watch the teaser trailer for Percy Jackson and the Olympians below:
The post ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’: Everything We Know About the Disney+ Series appeared first on TheWrap.