In Percy Jackson and the Olympians – the new Disney+ series premiering in December – Zeus accuses the young demigod of stealing his lightning bolt. But given that it’s just a few months now until the series lands on the streamer, it’s really Jackson fans who have been struck by lightning.
The eight-episode series, which is based on the best-selling fantasy novels by American author Rick Riordan, will tell the story of 12-year-old demigod Percy Jackson, who is balancing getting a handle on his new powers with trying to iron out a major problem in Olympus – and the small matter of puberty.
It will star new faces Walker Scobell as Jackson and Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri (Cheaper by the Dozen) as his two close friends Annabeth and Grover.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (His Dark Materials, Hamilton) will star as Hermes, Megan Mullally (The Great North) will play Alecto – one of the Furies – and Jason Mantzoukas (Big Mouth) will play the god of wine and festivity Dionysus.
Last month Disney+ released the first trailer of the upcoming show, thrilling fans. The 30 second teaser clip, titled We’ve Been Expecting You, gave audiences a glimpse of all the drama that’s coming their way: Jackson approaches an abandoned house, he and his friends are travelling across the countryside, there is a god wielding a giant sword, and a giant monster attacking Grover’s car.
“I am READY TO SEE THIS, I’ve been insanely excited about this series ever since it was announced. These books where [sic] my childhood,” commented one fan on the trailer. “This is amazing! So nice of Disney to give us a birthday present on Percy’s birthday!!! I can’t wait to see this show in all its glory!!!” said another.
Showrunners Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz both worked on the CBS post-nuclear-apocalypse series Jericho and Black Sails, the Treasure Island sequel on Starz.
Riordan has been a close collaborator on the project. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, before the SAG-AFTRA strikes, the 59-year-old author said: “We have been involved in the series since its inception, since the very, very earliest conversations about what a new Percy adaptation might look like, how it would be sketched out, whether it would be episodic.”
“So, I feel comfortable telling fans of the books who have been waiting — in some cases, decades — for this kind of faithful adaptation, that this is the one you’ve been waiting for. We are involved and I think you’re gonna love it.”
The six books which make up the fantasy series have sold more than 180 million copies worldwide. They have already been turned into two popular films: the first, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) made $226 million and the second, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) made $200 million.
However, many fans were displeased with the film adaptations (which have an average Rotten Tomato score of 45 per cent), with some saying that the films’ directors, Chris Columbus and Thor Freudenthal, took too many liberties with the source material and others criticising the films’ plotlines, CGI and acting.
Riordan hasn’t held back about his dislike of the films either: “To you guys, it’s a couple hours’ entertainment,” he replied to a fan on X (formerly Twitter) in 2020. “To me, it’s my life’s work going through a meat grinder when I pleaded with them not to do it. So yeah. But it’s fine. All fine. We’re gonna fix it soon.”
