Percy Jackson and The Olympians: next episode, cast, plot, trailer and everything we know
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Disney Plus' big end-of-2023 release was Percy Jackson and The Olympians, a fresh take on Rick Riordan's beloved Greek mythology-inspired fantasy franchise.
Fans of Riordan's books were elated by the news coming out of Disney’s annual D23 event when the series was first announced. While the young-adult book series had been previously adapted into two feature films in 2010 and 2013, neither was particularly well-received.
However, Percy Jackson and the Olympians looked to be a much more faithful adaptation than its predecessors. Early reactions to the series were positive, with praise in particular going to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians cast. And the series has only continued to be a great spin on the much-loved fantasy franchise as it's continued.
Here's everything you need to know about Percy Jackson and The Olympians.
Percy Jackson and The Olympians release date
Percy Jackson and The Olympians started streaming exclusively on Disney Plus from December 20, 2023. The series got a two-episode premiere, and the remaining episodes have dropped weekly on Wednesdays; episode 6 arrives on Wednesday, January 17.
How many episodes of Percy Jackson and The Olympians will there be?
Percy Jackson and The Olympians' first season will be eight episodes long.
Percy Jackson and The Olympians cast
One of the main criticisms of the Percy Jackson movies was that the cast members were much older than the characters they were playing, and that's changed this time around.
The main trio was announced at D23 and by author Rick Riordan. Playing the titular character is Walker Scobell (The Adam Project); he's joined by Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth and Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood, forming the main trio of the story.
Olivea Morton will play Nancy Bobofit, Dior Goodjohn is playing Clarisse LaRue and Charlie Bushnell is playing Luke Castellan. Alongside the young newcomers is Big Little Lies star Virginia Kull, comedian and actor Jason Mantzoukas, and Megan Mullally (Will & Grace).
Timothy Omundson (Lucifer) is playing Hephaestus, Jay Duplass (Transparent) is on hand as Hades, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda plays Hermes, Adam Copeland (The Flash) plays the Greek god of war, Ares. Plus, Suzanne Cryer (Straight Man) is playing Echidna, the Mother of Monsters, Jessica Parker Kennedy (The Flash) is playing Medusa, and Glynn Turman is playing Chiron, the Centaur who trains the half-bloods.
In addition, we know that Toby Stephens is playing Percy's father Poseidon, and the late Lance Reddick is on hand as Zeus. Rick Riordan is a huge fan of both actors; on his blog, he called Stephens as 'an unstoppable force' and 'British acting royalty' and said Reddick has 'so much gravitas he could pull planets out of alignment'. These last two stars were the final two announcements for the series, with Riordan promising that any outstanding gods who hadn't yet been cast would not be appearing in the first season.
Disney released character posters for our main trio on July 22; check them out below:
What is Percy Jackson and The Olympians about?
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is expected to follow the story of the original book series, focusing on a young boy and his friends as they navigate a world of magic and Greek mythology. In this world, Percy is known as a “half-blood,” so-called because one of his parents is a Greek god and one is human. After learning he's a descendant of Poseidon, Percy enters Camp Half-Blood to learn more about his past, practice his godlike powers, and unlock his full potential.
Rick Riordan has already confirmed that each season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians would focus on just one book in the series, and Disney's summary for the new series confirms that this first season is drawing from book one, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.
Per the synopsis on Disney Plus, Percy Jackson and the Olympians will see Percy, Annabeth and Grover dispatched on a dangerous quest to recover Zeus' master lightning bolt.
Together, the trio journeys across the United States, outwitting gods and doing battle with mythological monsters, all with the hope of tracking down this mythical artifact and preventing a full-scale war between the gods of Mount Olympus.
Is there a trailer?
Yes, Disney steadily released a stream of trailers for the series. The latest Percy Jackson and the Olympians trailer arrived on November 16. This new teaser primarily focuses on Percy's origins, showing off how he's frequently felt slightly out of place in the world.
Before long, he's being told the stories his mother had told him are all true, and then he's off to train at Camp Half-Blood. And that's before his real quest begins; alongside his two companions, Percy's got to help his father by recovering the Master Bolt, preventing a war between the Gods in the process.
The previous trailer arrived on September 20, three months out from the show's debut. In it, we get a proper introduction to Percy as a character... and see him being attacked by a teacher (who has turned into a Fury). And anyone who's read the books will remember his first battle with the minotaur, which is teased below:
We've also embedded the earlier teasers here: one gave us a look at the cast attending Camp Half-Blood, and the latter served as a very brief snapshot of the cast in action (most of these shots are in the full trailer).
Is Percy Jackson and The Olympians season 2 on the cards?
About a year after the Disney adaptation was announced, Rick Riordan revealed on his blog that they'd started work on the writers' room for a second season.
Whilst he stressed this did NOT mean a second season had been formally greenlit, it's nevertheless encouraging that approval was given to start scripting the second series.
Riordan wrote: "Meanwhile, we have started work on the writers’ room for season two. This does NOT mean the second season has been green-lit yet. It’s too early for that. But we have been approved to start developing scripts, and I think everyone’s expectation is that a second season will happen if all goes as planned."
As you might expect, the plan for Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2 is to adapt the second Percy Jackson book, The Sea of Monsters, and Riordan teased they had 'big plans' for what to do, if the first season was popular enough.
"My usual disclaimer: This is all HYPOTHETICAL at this point", he added. "We have big plans, but nothing is green-lit (past the writers room) and nothing is set in stone. Fingers crossed, though, the first season does as well as we hope, and leads to an even greater second! I continue to be in the writers’ room every day, weighing in on every creative decision".
