‘Percy Jackson’ EPs & Stars Talk Revisiting ‘The Lightning Thief’ & Looking Ahead To Potential Season 2 (And Beyond)
Disney appears to be putting quite a few eggs in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians basket.
The highly anticipated small screen adaptation debuts on Disney+ with two episodes on Wednesday. The first episode will also be available on Hulu through January, which is when the eight-episode first season will wrap up — yet another sign that Disney is hoping to get as many eyes on the series as possible.
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Season 1 follows the events from the first of five books by Rick Riordan with the intention that the series will comprise five seasons, one for each of the novels. There’s no official word yet on whether Season 2 will see the light of day, and executives will certainly be keeping a close eye on how the series performs through the holidays. However, executive producer Jon Steinberg confirmed to Deadline there’s already been “discussions” about moving forward.
“I think everyone has a real hope that this will live a long and healthy life. Right now, we’re trying to deal with step one. But we’d be lying if we said there weren’t people who are thinking about step two right now,” he said.
Becky Riordan, who executive produced the series with her husband, said that they’ve begun to outline the Season 2 “bible” — and that she’s looking forward to the possibility of revisiting Sea of Monsters.
“Sea of Monsters is one of my favorites. I really love that we’re going to have more time with Grover, so I’m hoping that happens. It will be fabulous, because Aryan [Simhadri, who plays Grover] is amazing actor,” she said.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians marks a reset for the franchise, made possible by Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, which owned the screen rights to the books. Fox had taken a swing with the first two books, though they were largely panned by critics, fans and by Riordan himself, who was very outspoken about his displeasure with the production process.
Riordan had many qualms about those two film adaptations and, rightfully so, was hesitant to return to the Hollywood machine to try again.
“He was open about that when he started the conversation about doing this, that he didn’t want to be in that situation again, and I don’t blame him,” Steinberg explained. “A lot of the conversation early on was really about trying to articulate a plan for how to do it in the right way and how to do it in a way where, by the end of it, Rick and Becky could watch it and feel proud of it. It’s easy to say, and I think we knew it was easy to say at the beginning, but I think there was a real commitment made to making sure that nothing was going to happen on the show that didn’t feel like it belonged in the Percy Jackson universe to them.”
After four years bringing this new adaptation to life, Rick is happy to say he can’t wait for audiences to experience this version of his books.
“I think we were able to take the TV format and, not change the story, but deepen it. You see other perspectives, you get a little more inner dimensionality between the characters and what they’re going through, that you don’t necessarily get when you’re in a book,” he said, adding specifically that, besides the main trio, a character he was eager to revisit was Jessica Parker Kennedy’s Medusa.
“From the time that I wrote The Lightning Thief in 2005 and today, my understanding of Medusa has changed and deepened a lot,” he said. “I think it’s been informed by, kind of, the Medusa point of view, and the idea that, is she really just a villain? Doesn’t she have her own voice and her own story? What does that look like?”
Even Percy’s perspective might have changed, Becky explained. Without giving away any details, she recalls a scene from Episode 1 where Percy’s mom is talking to him about expectations, which she says is a “very important as a touchstone through the entire season.”
“Percy remembers that story and that lesson his mother gave him and so he looks at things from from a different perspective than even in the books,” she continued.
During a press day in December, the three leads were eager to talk about the series after having finally seen the first five episodes the day before. Jeffries described the viewing experience as “crazy,” while Scobell noted it “feels so real.”
“They have some distance from when they shot it, and so when we did speak to them about it, they all said they just got immersed in it. They weren’t sitting there looking at looking at themselves, they were just watching Percy Jackson,” executive producer Dan Shotz said of the watch party.
As for what they’re most excited for audiences to experience, all three agreed it’s the painstaking visual effects, which immerse the viewer into the world of Greek mythology, that take the cake.
“[Dan] was telling us like how every hair of the Minotaur has to be going the exact same way,” Simhadri remembered. “And you could hear the pain in his voice. He’s so tired, but it was 100% worth it. Everything turned out so well.”
They’re pretty confident the “diehard fans” will take to this version of Percy Jackson better than they did the last. So are the producers, considering they’ve received the Riordans’ stamp of approval along the way — which means they’ve also had an invaluable direct line to readers throughout the process. In addition to Rick and Becky’s intimate knowledge of the story, their communications with fans served as a north star as Disney developed the project.
“You imagine doing something like this with somebody who didn’t have that relationship, and it gets really scary really quickly,” Steinberg said. “People are really connected to this, and to start monkeying around with how it works in order to get it from the page onto the screen without the ability to have someone who can say, ‘I feel connected to the story and to the people who love it in a way where I feel like I can be a part of that conversation and tell you when you’re on track and when you’re not,’ would be really scary. I think the added bonus of having that person say, ‘and I’m not afraid to try stuff in order to get this right,’ was everything.”
Disney doesn’t frequently release viewership data for its streaming titles, though it’s expected that the company may tout Percy Jackson‘s performance, given the buzz around the series. In about a month, the premiere episodes might also make their way onto Nielsen’s streaming Top 10, which will also give an indication of how the episodes performed.
If all goes over well, Percy Jackson could be Disney’s next big franchise. While it might not have debuted yet, the series stars are already a few steps ahead. If you ask them, the possibilities are endless.
“I hope that there will eventually be an Avengers–Percy Jackson crossover,” Simhadri told Deadline. His co-stars Walker Scobell (who plays Percy Jackson) and Leah Jeffries (who plays Annabeth Chase) nodded their heads in agreement.
Scobell added: “One day I really hope there’s a Percy Jackson theme park…it’d be cool to get holograms, like the Harry Potter ride.”
Or, animatronics at the very least.
“Oh, my god, like Pirates of the Caribbean,” Scobell fantasized. “And we’ll do what Johnny Depp did and swap ourselves with them one day.”
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