A book-accurate Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV series is coming to Disney Plus. The series will be the second live-action adaption of Rick Riordan’s pentalogy of the same name. The first adaption was a film series distributed by 20th Century Fox. However, this adaption received mixed reviews due to its departure from the books (and the series didn’t continue past book 2). The Percy Jackson TV series from Disney Plus has stirred up much excitement from fans, especially because Riordan is a major part of the production team.
Since Riordan is not being shut out of the filmmaking process for this adaption, he has been able to offer firsthand updates about the series. So far, there is not yet a release date, and only one actor has been cast in the series. On his website, RickRiordan.com, Riordan has hinted that they are close to having their full trio, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, cast soon. Meanwhile, it was announced that Walker Scobell, the 13-year-old actor known for his role in The Adam Project, was cast as Percy. The news was met with much support and excitement, as Scobell is the right age to play Percy and he blew us all away with his performance in The Adam Project.
Riordan also revealed that he and his wife have already made their way to Vancouver where Percy Jackson will begin filming this summer. The author has begun to meet with studio staff to work out the details of the series and has had the opportunity to look at mock-ups of armor and weapons, including early replicas of Riptide, as well as ideas for blue candy. While it’s still early in the process, Riordan has reiterated that he is happy with how the project is coming along.
How many episodes will be in Percy Jackson season 1?
Amidst his updates, Riordan subtly revealed how many episodes will be in the first season. So far, Riordan says that scripts for four episodes are complete and that he and the crew are hard at work for the remaining four. Hence, there will be eight scripts for a total of eight episodes in season 1. Meanwhile, Riordan also confirmed that season 1 is going to cover book 1, The Lightning Thief.
The episode count is interesting, especially with the confirmation that it will only cover The Lightning Thief. Adapting a single book into 8 episodes, likely to be at least 30 minutes each, means this will be a very detailed take on The Lightning Thief. However, it seems that Riordan has a plan to not only make the series’ TV adaptation accurate but to add to the story in a meaningful way.
Riordan confirmed that there will “added depth and layers of nuance” to the story. He mentioned that there are still many details that fans are longing to know, as evidenced by the fan mail he has received over the past 15-years. Percy Jackson season 1 will be Riordan’s chance to respond to any unanswered questions about the series, as well as to explore all aspects of the story, perhaps even ideas or scenes that didn’t quite fit into the final novel. Essentially, Percy Jackson season 1 is going to be an 8-episode deep dive into The Lightning Thief and that actually sounds extremely appealing.
(featured image: Hyperion)
