Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series Officially a Go at Disney+ — Watch Author Rick Riordan’s Message to Fans
The Olympians are coming — and we don’t just mean the ones competing in Beijing.
Disney+ has ordered to series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, a small-screen adaptation of Rick Riordan’s beloved fantasy novels. The official announcement comes nearly two years after Riordan shared that he was helping to develop the potential series at Disney+ in May 2020.
Riordan — who broke the series order news in a video message to fans on Tuesday; you can watch it above — will pen the pilot with Jon Steinberg (Black Sails), while James Bobin (The Mysterious Benedict Society) will direct. All three will serve as executive producers, as will former Touchstone Television President Bert Salke, who originally put the project into development.
“With Rick Riordan, Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz leading our creative team, we’re deep into creating a compelling TV series worthy of the heroic mythological characters that millions of Percy Jackson readers know are well worth caring about, and we’re eager to invite Disney+ audiences into stories that are true to the blockbuster franchise and full of anticipation, humor, surprise, and mystery,” said Ayo Davis, president of Disney Branded Television.
The live-action series will follow Percy Jackson, a 12-year-old modern demigod who’s just coming to terms with his newfound supernatural powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. Now Percy must trek across America to find it and restore order to Olympus.
Riordan’s book series includes The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian, with the first two novels previously turned into feature films in 2010 and 2013, respectively.
Great can’t wait. I loved the films. I hope they explore the remaining books beyond the first to films as well.
We’re working on the books in our house, but the films sucked. Even Riordan disavowed them. Hopefully, with his involvement, the series will stay true to the books.
THIS! The movies were terrible. They absolutely ruined the character of Annabeth. I couldn’t even finish the first one it was so bad.
I loved the book series and I still have hope that they can get this right. If they mess with the characters again though I am out for good.
No offense to the original cast, which boasted some great talent, but the franchise could definitely use a clean slate with better creatives behind the camera.
Hope the series delivers!
Wasn’t this already announced a long time ago? What changed?
It was officially ordered to series. Before it was announced that it was in development. Apparently they liked what they saw and now it’s a show.
Hmm,this series will be effects heavy,hope it keeps up.
yay!!! I’m so looking forward to this! Loved the books. And with Riordan involved, i have faith that it will be faithful to the books.
YESSS! This is going to be so fun and such a perfect fit for Disney+, all ages awesomeness
And I can’t wait till there’s a cast photo and we never again have to see film images posted when sites talk about this project! (I mean, seriously? Can’t use a book cover? Or a stock photo of a lighting bolt? Literally anything else other than a reminder of those travesties?!!)
Super excited it’s officially announced, hope that means they will start moving faster. I know Rick announced a few months ago they were starting to cast, so maybe those are starting to lock in and filming will start soon.
Very happy that the series is a go at Disney+. I just hope it gets more of a serious tone and is watchable by everyone rather than by just kids like something on the Disney channel. With CGI heavy show like this the more people watch the better.
Awesome! I hope they follow the books and follow the correct age of Percy. He was too old in the movies.
Who wants a young lead?Last decent one was Harry Potter.
Have you read the books? The big prophecy is around when he turns 16. He was too old in the movies. These are kids books, the lead characters should be kids. Plus, it will be on Disney.
…So just raise the prophecy age?
Ageing him up just made the movies suck and ruined the entire timeline. The fans are in overall agreement that we want a cast that is the age of the book characters so that they age as the series progresses. Yes, a la Harry Potter and Stranger Things.
Exactly. Why age them up? It makes no sense. If you want to watch a show with adult or older teen protagonists, watch a different show. These are kids books beloved by many people who read them as kids.
Holy, Hera! :) I read The Lightning Thief with my 6th graders every year. This year, I decided to do a full re-read of the whole series myself. I’m currently on House of Hades in the Heroes of Olympus series. I’m very excited to perhaps be able to show a quality episode or two in my classroom. While we’re reading the book! We did suffer through the movie in class. Mostly because there are so many differences and we analyze the differences. :) I can’t show an entire season of a show, but maybe there will be an episode or two I can show. I’m so glad that they got the green light.
Yay! I’m so excited but at the same time Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Brandon T. Jones & Jake Abel will always be Percy, Annabeth, Grover & Luke to me. I hope that we get to see at least Logan in a guest stint!
I just hope with there being 5 books an a potential to be more than 5 seasons this doesn’t get canceled considering Percy Jackson was also in the next 5 books of the second series backing up a new lead character. I don’t see all the actors/actresses returning for a second book series turn into TV show after this initial first book series’ TV show ends.
My only concerned since Disney+ is still developing more shows, especially giving preference it seems to Marvel and Star Wars and has yet to fully realized “spin-offs” even though this book series 2 is really a continuation. I think Disney is ignoring their actual TV station where this could also air considering not everyone’s got a internet or reliable net speeds to stream online and may only be watching Disney on cable/satellite and are truly missing out on great Disney+ only shows.