Summary
It’s no secret that fans had a dissertation worth of issues with thePercy Jacksonmovies that were made in the 2010s. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Disney Plus is releasing a series in December of this year titledPercy Jackson and the Olympiansthat will, according to the trailer, fix a considerable amount of mistakes that the movies committed against viewers when they were released.
Original book fans may take a moment to appreciate the special detail that the release date will be December 20. This means that viewers will be watching the show during the winter solstice, which is the deadline for Percy to find the actuallightning thief.
Original Ages Restored
First and foremost, the age of the main characters has been put back to the original preteen stage instead of the 16-year-olds the movies presented for seemingly no reason. The three main characters: Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Grover Underwood will be played byWalker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadrirespectively. Since the books follow the characters aging from 11/12-year-olds to 16-year-olds in the final book, we can see the same growth as the seasons of the show develop.
This means there is also potential for all follow-up series to get thrown into the mix without actors aging too quickly for the story. Not only are there five books in the originalPJObook series, there are currently connected book series within the world of Rick Riordan books. The most notable of which is the series that immediately follows,Heroes of Olympus, wherePercy and his friendsare connected with demigods much like themselves with one major difference, they’re Roman instead of Greek. There are also companion books to the original series that have the potential for special episodes or simply one-off shorts.
Return of Fan-Favorite Characters
The next life raft that the show is providing, is the introduction of fan-favorite characters that the movies overlooked. Some of the most notable of these includeAres, the god of war, as well as Mr. D, Dionysus, Camp Half-Blood’s bereft director. Granted, the sequel movie did try to introduce characters that were omitted from the original, as they were necessary to the story, i.e. Hermes and Clarisse. However, since they did not have their proper introductions in the first film, the storylines seemed forced and rushed in the second movie. Viewers were suddenly asked to care about the backstory of characters they had never met before since they were not even mentioned in the first movie. Since most of these characters are already cast and present in the first season of the show, there is hope for a more natural introduction to these characters…the way Rich Riordan intended.
Re-established Original Storyline
Speaking of storylines, those were omitted from the movies as well. There was an overlying prophecy that dictated the course of the books, along with a specific prophecy for each specific book’s journey. Since characters such as Mr. D and the Oracle of Delphi were not even in the first movie, the overlying prophecy only gets a minor mention in the sequel movie as well as the prophecy for that story.
Also, the biggest reason Percy’s existence is such a shock is really because the “Big Three” (Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon) made a pact to not have children anymore because every time they did, a literal World War would happen. (A pact that they all ended up breaking, by the way.) This tidbit of information is never even addressed in the movies, even though it’s kind ofthe point of the movies. The fact that it is now formatted as a series means that viewers should get all the proper exposition at a natural rate for the story to be as effective as possible.
Musical: Maybe?
With the casting ofLin-Manuel Miranda as Hermes, there is the possibility that there may be an extra musical aspect to the show. This is not necessarily out of the blue, considering that we are talking about Disney, as well as the fact that there isThe Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musicalto use as a reference point. Though, again, given Miranda’s reputation as a whole, even if there is not necessarily a musical number in the show, Miranda may simply have a heavy hand in the score of the show. This would make its own special impact on the show when considering his other projects such asHamiltonandMoana.
Percy Jackson and the Olympianswill be released on Disney+ on June 25, 2025.
More:Percy Jackson and the Olympians Cast Adds Lance Reddick and Toby Stephens
