Most bestselling book series start with a real-life inspiration, and Rick and Becky Riordan’s kids were the jumping-off point for the Percy Jackson novels long before it became a new series coming to Disney+ this month. After they found out their son, Haley, had ADHD and dyslexia at the age of seven, bedtime stories about Greek mythology were his saving grace. One night, Rick Riordan found himself thinking up his own stories about the topic, and by writing a story about a kid with his own learning differences who learns he is a demi-god the Percy Jackson series was born.
Ahead of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV show hitting Disney+ next week, CinemaBlend spoke to the Riordans about bringing Percy Jackson’s ADHD and dyslexia to the series since Rick Riordan co-created the adaptation and the couple both serve as producers. Here’s what Rick told us:
It may have been almost 20 years since the author was inspired by his son, as he detailed on his own website to write the Percy Jackson series, but as he told us, it’s still very much at the “core” of the story. Becky Riordan expanded on how Percy Jackson’s ADHD and dyslexia were brought to the series, saying this:
As a longtime fan of the Percy Jackson books, I’ve seen the first few episodes of the series and can say that the Riordans’ involvement made all the difference in staying true to the spirit of the books. Walker Scobell leads the Percy Jackson cast as the young demigod as he grows up seeing letters in a jumbled fashion along with noticing the many creatures from Greek mythology around him.
While he’s written off as a “troubled” kid, the fantasy of the story helps Percy come to learn that what is written off as problems to some, is actually proof that he’s a child of Poseidon. Rick Riordan continued to talk about the topic during our interview (which you can watch in the video above):
The Riordans were very careful about correctly representing learning differences in the fantasy series. Becky Riordan also said this:
The first two episodes of Percy Jackson and the Olympians will premiere for those with a Disney+ subscription and Hulu subscription on Wednesday, December 20 on the 2023 TV schedule. More episodes will come out weekly on Wednesdays.