Credit: 20th Century StudiosThe adaptation of author Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians novels will be coming to Disney+ as a live-action series, reportedly in 2023. Announced last May, Percy Jackson fans have been eager to glean any piece of information they can about the show, since the last time they watched something Percy Jackson-related was in 2013 when the second installment Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters came out.
The Percy Jackson film adaptation was originally slated as a trilogy. It began with Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) and continued with sequel film, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013). The trilogy, however, was not completed, as the third movie never came to fruition.
The new Percy Jackson television series coming to Disney+ will reportedly follow Riordan’s novels more closely than the two prior films did. From what we know so far, each season will adapt one novel — there are five novels in total which means there should be at least five seasons of the new Disney+ series, though it is important to note that these details have not been confirmed by The Walt Disney Company at this time.
Author Rick Riordan wrote a statement on his personal blog regarding production of the upcoming Percy Jackson series. It reads in part:
…The writing for the first season, which follows the plot of The Lightning Thief, is sketched out from start to finish and the writers are doing a terrific job putting everything into script format.
Writers have met and completed an approved pilot episode for season one based on The Lightning Thief and have reportedly decided that Percy will be the age he was in the novelizations, rather than being aged-up from the start like he was in the prior films.
Actor Logan Lerman, who played the title character in the movie adaptations, has expressed interest in joining the cast of the new Percy Jackson series.
Working alongside the writers is a full production team that has been working tirelessly to bring everything together for the first season and beyond. Logistically, the airing of the first season on Disney+ should take place within the next two to three years. That gives the production team time to cast, film, edit, and all of the things in between to give Percy Jackson fans what they have been waiting for.
An update on the series progress posted to Twitter states:
We are also moving ahead on numerous fronts for pre-production, like locking in concept artists, VFX producers, line directors, and all those important people who work behind the scenes to make the show a reality.” – @rickriordan #PercyJackson #percyjacksontvshow ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/R3eiur2cXn
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“We are also moving ahead on numerous fronts for pre-production, like locking in concept artists, VFX producers, line directors, and all those important people who work behind the scenes to make the show a reality.” – @rickriordan #PercyJackson #percyjacksontvshow ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/R3eiur2cXn
— Percy Jackson on Disney+ (@PercyJackson_TV) September 24, 2021
Riordan also shared additional details on his blog:
…The team we have in place is so good though, I’m feeling optimistic. We are also moving ahead on numerous fronts for pre-production, like locking in concept artists, VFX producers, line directors, and all those important people who work behind the scenes to make the show a reality.
The budget for the Percy Jackson series is reportedly higher than those for recent Star Wars and Marvel Studios projects, which can only mean that there will be incredible detail in each episode and fans will not be disappointed.
Percy Jackson revolves around Greek mythology and considering its reported budget — plus the fact that the series is rumored to be making use of The Volume soundstage made famous by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s The Mandalorian — it is undoubtedly going to impress from a VFX standpoint.
Reportedly, Disney+ is also developing a straight-to-streaming movie version of another Riordan novel, “Daughter of the Deep”.
The Tweet announcing the movie adaptation for Daughter of the Deep reads:
NEWS: Author @rickriordan confirms the “Daughter Of The Deep” book (that was released just a few days ago) is getting an adaptation as a MOVIE for @disneyplus!🦈
“…we are presently developing Daughter of the Deep as a feature film for Disney+”
WE RIORDAN NATION KEEP WINNING!🦑
NEWS: Author @rickriordan confirms the “Daughter Of The Deep” book (that was released just a few days ago) is getting an adaptation as a MOVIE for @disneyplus!🦈
“…we are presently developing Daughter of the Deep as a feature film for Disney+”
WE RIORDAN NATION KEEP WINNING!🦑 pic.twitter.com/4AzPVwEIWI
— Percy Jackson on Disney+ (@PercyJackson_TV) October 9, 2021
As production for the Disney+ series moves along, it is certain that fans will hear from author Rick Riordan many more times as he shares updates. The adaptation seems to be promising for the Percy Jackson franchise and will be a great addition to the Disney+ library.