Anna Daniels
Back when Harry Potter was all the rage and studios were snatching up every young adult fantasy book series they could get their hands on, 20th Century Fox launched Percy Jackson as a film franchise. It wasn’t quite as successful as the likes of Chronicles of Narnia, but it stood out from the rest of the pack. However, following the release of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, the sequel Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters saw a lower box office turnout, and the series was seemingly abandoned. But now that Fox is under the Disney banner, Percy Jackson is about to be revived in the form of a Disney+ series.
Here’s the official announcement from Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan and his wife Becky:
Pssst. Hey, demigods . . . pic.twitter.com/7ep4aeyS3I
— Rick Riordan (@rickriordan) May 14, 2020
The video also came with this official statement from the author:
“Hey Percy Jackson fans, for the past decade, you’ve worked hard to champion a faithful on-screen adaptation of Percy Jackson’s world. Some of you have even suggested it would be a great series for Disney+. We couldn’t agree more! We can’t say much more at this stage but we are very excited about the idea of a live-action series of the highest quality, following hte storyline of the original Percy Jackson five-book series, starting with The Lightning Thief in season one. Rest assured that Becky and I will be involved in person in every aspect of the show. There will be much more news in the future, but for now, we have a lot of work to do! Buckle up, demigods. It’s going to be a fantastic exciting ride!”
Starting fresh from the beginning of the books is the right way to go. Something really cool can be done with the Percy Jackson series, especially if it’s not trying to just ride the coattails of Harry Potter anymore. The way the series plays with Greek mythology and uses it to fuel an original fantasy story has a lot of promise. On top of the two books that were already turned into movies, there’s The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian, so there’s plenty of room for this series to go multiple seasons.
It’ll be interesting to see if there are any nods to the original movie franchise in the series, such as giving cast members Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, and Brandon T. Jackson cameos. But Disney might want to start completely fresh without calling back to the 20th Century Fox film series, and the cast may want to keep their distance from the series too.
There’s no indication as to when the Percy Jackson series is intended to get off the ground, but we’ll keep you posted.
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