It's nearly Christmas and many are starting to put their feet up and relax for the most wonderful time of the year, but not me, I'm stressing more than ever. Why? Because my entire childhood is at stake.
Disney is obviously a major player it most people's childhoods, but when it comes to my youth it was the Percy Jackson books that dominated. I need the imminent (December 20th) Percy Jackson and the Olympians to be something special. Luckily, going off early impressions it sounds like this Disney+ show is.
Although audience scores aren't out yet, the Greek mythology-inspired series has amassed a fantastic 96% on Roten Tomatoes from critics. That has me quaking in my (winged) boots with excitement.
We've had previous movie adaptations of Rick Riordan's superb books before, with 2010's Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters but while they had some merit, they didn't quite do the stories justice. Here's hoping a longer form series will give the characters a chance to really develop. Our protagonists are much younger this time too, more accurate to the books. In fact, lead actor Walker Scobell is just 14!
If you're new to the Percy Jackson mythology, let me give you the run down. We follow Percy, an ordinary boy living in modern day America, who suddenly finds out that his father is in fact the Ancient Greek God Poseidon. Now at the magical Camp Halfblood with other demigods, he is part of a world previously only found in history books. Soon he teams up with new friends Grover and Annabeth on a quest to recover Zeus' lost lightning bolt.
The tone of the books (the earlier ones in particular) is very much a mix of adventure and humour and it looks like that will persist here too. If you have family who love Harry Potter, this is going to be right up their street.
Percy Jackson and The Olympians premieres December 20th (on Hulu in the US) with the first 2 episodes and further adventures arriving weekly. But of course there's plenty of great content to watch on the best streaming services this festive period.
