Exciting news last week as the first cast member of the new Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief Disney+ series was announced. But will the show live up to fan expectations? Or at least be better than the movie? Jordan Mangi has more.
The wait is over, demigods. I am thrilled to be the first to tell you that Percy Jackson and the Olympians is really, truly and for sure coming to your screens. The smart folks at Disney Plus have given us the green light…
[record scratch]
DIDN’T WE ALREADY GET A PERCY JACKSON LIVE ACTION MOVIE? AND WASN’T IT…KINDA BAD? NEVER FEAR, RICK RIORDAN IS GIVING HIS BELOVED KIDS BOOK SERIES A SECOND GO AT A SCREEN ADAPTATION. THIS TIME, IN A SERIES FORMAT.
[music]
PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS IS A FIVE-BOOK SERIES ABOUT MODERN DAY DEMIGODS — THAT IS, THE CHILD OF A GREEK GOD AND A MORTAL. THE PROTAGONIST, PERCY, IS A PROBLEM CHILD WHO KEEPS GETTING KICKED OUT OF SCHOOL. WHEN GREEK MYTHOLOGICAL MONSTERS ATTACK HIM ON A CLASS TRIP, THE TWELVE-YEAR-OLD’S LIFE CHANGES. HE IS TAKEN AWAY TO CAMP HALFBLOOD, A SUMMER CAMP FOR DEMIGOD KIDS TO LEARN ABOUT THEIR PARENTS AND HONE THEIR TALENTS. PERCY FINDS OUT HE IS THE SON OF POSEIDON, THE GREEK GOD OF THE SEA, AND MUST GO ON A QUEST TO RESCUE HIS MOTHER FROM THE UNDERWORLD AND CATCH WHOEVER STOLE ZEUS’S MASTER LIGHTNING BOLT. ALONG WITH ANNABETH, A BRILLIANT, STRATEGICALLY-MINDED DAUGHTER OF ATHENA, AND GROVER, A SATYR (THAT’S A HALF BOY-HALF GOAT) WHO IS TASKED WITH PROTECTING THEM, PERCY COMPLETES THE QUEST, FIGHTING MONSTERS ALONG THE WAY.
“PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTING THIEF”, WHICH SOON BECAME FIVE BOOKS, PLUS A SPIN-OFF SERIES, IS OFTEN SEEN AS THE NEXT GENERATION’S HARRY POTTER. THE FIRST BOOK WAS RELEASED IN 2005. IT SPARKED TONS OF INTEREST IN GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY, AND IS KNOWN FOR ITS INTERPRETATION OF ADHD AS A SIGN OF BATTLEFIELD SUPERPOWERS AND DYSLEXIA BEING A SIDE-EFFECT OF THE DEMIGOD ABILITY TO READ ANCIENT GREEK. THE SERIES EVEN SPARKED REAL-LIFE CAMP HALF-BLOOD SUMMER CAMPS, AND A SHORT-LIVED BROADWAY MUSICAL. IN THE LATE AUGHTS, WHEN THE BOOKS GOT A MOVIE DEAL, YOUNG READERS WERE OVER THE MOON. WHEN IT PREMIERED IN TWO-THOUSAND TEN, THOUGH, IT BOMBED.
[small clip from trailer]
THE MOVIE — WHICH ONLY WENT ON TO HAVE A SEQUEL, INSTEAD OF A WHOLE FIVE-MOVIE ARC, JUST DIDN’T MEET FAN EXPECTATIONS. THE RECONFIGURED PLOT WAS CONFUSING TO READERS WHO ALREADY KNEW HOW THE REST OF THE SERIES SHOULD PROGRESS. THE FILM AGED PERCY UP FROM TWELVE TO SIXTEEN. LOGAN LERMAN, WHO PLAYED PERCY, WAS EIGHTEEN AT THE TIME OF FILMING. HIS CO-STARS, ALEXANDRA DADDARIO AND BRANDON T. JACKSON, WHO PLAYED ANNABETH AND GROVER, WERE TWENTY-FOUR AND TWENTY-SIX. KIDS FELT CHEATED.
COMMON SENSE MEDIA, A SITE THAT PUBLISHES KIDS REVIEWS OF KIDS MEDIA, SAID IT ALL: AVERAGING THREE OUT OF FIVE STARS, REVIEWERS AGES EIGHT TO FOURTEEN FOUND THE MOVIE “HORRIBLE” “DISAPPOINTING” “SO BAD THAT IT’S FUNNY” AND “JUST PLAIN WEIRD”. BUT NO ONE HATED THE MOVIE MORE THAT RICK RIORDAN HIMSELF. IN A NOW-DELETED TWITTER THREAD, HE SAID HE’S NEVER EVEN SEEN THE MOVIES. READING THE SCRIPTS ALONE WAS TOO UPSETTING. HE SAID
“Well, to you guys, it’s a couple hours entertainment. To me, it’s my life’s work going through a meat grinder when I pleaded with them not to do it. So yeah. But it’s fine. All fine. We’re gonna fix it soon . . .”
AND THE FIRST STEP TO THAT, OF COURSE, IS FINDING A NEW, AGE-APPROPRIATE PERCY. IT SEEMS RIORDAN LEARNED HIS LESSON FROM THE FIRST SCREEN ADAPTATION, AND SAID HE WILL BE HEAVILY INVOLVED IN THE NEW SERIES. LAST WEEK, THERE WAS A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: WALKER SCOBELL WILL PLAY THE TITULAR ROLE. IN RIORDAN’S STATEMENT, HE SAID SCOBELL IS A SUPERFAN OF THE SERIES, AND ALREADY OWNED A CAMP HALFBLOOD SHIRT. HE’S KNOWN FOR HIS RECENT NETFLIX DEBUT IN “THE ADAM PROJECT” — AND HE IS JUST THIRTEEN.
ALREADY, FANS ARE JUMPING AT THE NEWS. ON TWITTER, PEOPLE WHO GREW UP READING THE BOOKS AS THEY CAME OUT ARE NOW IN THEIR EARLY TWENTIES. THERE ARE CALLS TO START RE-READING THE BOOKS NOW, IN PREPARATION FOR THE SHOW’S PROJECTED 2023 RELEASE. THERE IS ALSO MUCH SPECULATION OVER THE CASTING FOR THE OTHER TWO MAIN CHARACTERS, ANNABETH AND GROVER. SOME FANS ARE HOPING THAT ANNABETH IN PARTICULAR WILL BE PLAYED BY AN ACTOR OF COLOR. THE SERIES LACKS EXPLICITYLY NON-WHITE MAIN CHARACTERS, AND MANY PEOPLE WHO READ THE SERIES AS KIDS DIDN’T FEEL SEEN IN THE BOOKS AND MOVIE ADAPTATION.
FOR NOW, WE’LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT, AND HOPE THE DO-OVER AT THE SCREEN WILL MEET SUPERFAN EXPECTATIONS.
(“Bring on the Monsters” from The Lighting Thief musical)
FOR WNUR, I’M JORDAN MANGI. RICK RIORDAN’S TWEET WAS READ BY RICK MANGI. THE OUTRO MUSIC IS “BRING ON THE MONSTERS” FROM THE “THE LIGHTNING THIEF” CAST ALBUM.
