The first Percy Jackson book was released in 2005. The first Percy Jackson movie was released in 2010. And now, 22 months after news broke of a Percy Jackson streaming show, that’s officially happening too.
It’s called Percy Jackson and the Olympians and, as was first reported way back in May 2020, it’s coming to Disney+. Series creator Rick Riordan is writing the pilot with Jon Steinberg (Black Sails) and it’ll be directed by James Bobin, best known for doing the modern Muppets movies The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted. Steinberg will then pick up duties as showrunner with Dan Shotz.
Percy Jackson is boy living a normal life until he finds out he’s a demigod, the son of Poseidon. The series then follows Percy as he comes to terms with his incredible abilities and discovering a whole new world of gods, monsters, and the like. Like the first movie, which was directed by Home Alone and Harry Potter helmer, Chris Columbus, Percy Jackson and the Olympians will begin by adapting the first book, The Lightning Thief.
So, that said, there’s no connection to 2010 or 2013 films (which, it’s worth nothing, Riordan haaaaated). It’s just the smart and seemingly obvious choice of brand new Percy Jackson right from the beginning And yet, we are still just a little surprised that this show took so long to come to fruition. Obviously, its inception and development happening primarily during the covid-19 pandemic didn’t hurry along the process much. But the wait is still a window into the twists, turns, and care a big production like this goes through. You can’t just take Riordan’s five-book main series (with five supplements) and start shooting. So much goes into it to a point where, 22 months almost since the news first broke, the show is finally on the way. And the team at Disney seems excited.
“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,” Ayo Davis, president of Disney Branded Television, said in a press release. “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.”
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