The gods are awake! The Percy Jackson series is officially a go at Disney+. The streaming platform first announced its adaption of the beloved fantasy novels back in May 2020. Now, it’s officially official. Rick Riordan, author of the beloved series, announced the series’ greenlight in a video shared by the streaming platform.
While Riordan didn’t share any new details in the minute-long video, he confirmed James Bobin is directing the pilot. Bobin’s been attached to direct since October, when Riordan announced his collaboration in a blog post. For an adaptation like The Lightning Thief, it’s vital to have true fans involved in the work. The book has a lot of nuances, and getting the vision right can feel tricky. In addition, fans have high expectations, especially considering the last adaptation didn’t go precisely as planned. But for this adaptation, Riordan is actively involved. In addition to serving as an executive producer on the series, the author is co-writing the pilot with John Steinberg.
Per a Disney+ press release, Percy Jackson and the Olympians “tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who’s just coming to terms with his newfound supernatural powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. Now Percy must trek across America to find it and restore order to Olympus.”
Riordan also shared more about the casting and process of the Percy Jackson show. Casting remains a work in progress, he writes. Though he doesn’t have the information yet, he also promises to share open call casting for the interested. So watch out for that if you’d like to join the world of the Olympians. Additionally, Riordan toured Industrial Light and Magic’s “Volume” stage. Disney+’s Star Wars shows such as The Mandalorian film at this location.
Though the Percy Jackson Disney+ series likely won’t film there, Riordan hopes to learn from the process of these other shows. He notes the technology he saw was awe-inspiring. And he hopes that some of it can inform Percy Jackson’s adaptation:
If you’re not familiar with the Volume and how it works, there is a short YouTube documentary publicly available here. It is pretty incredible stuff that puts you in the middle of a 360-degree virtual environment. They even plopped us in the middle of deep space at one point and let me punch the button “enter hyperspace.” Suddenly, we were doing the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. The effects are so real we were warned to be careful if we had motion sickness, and they weren’t lying.
Riordan also recently shared that the series’ first season would be eight episodes long. He also discussed some of the ins and outs of pre-production. He notes, “We had meetings with the props and costume departments to get a “show and tell” about what they’re working on. So many things to think about that would never have occurred to me: What kind of backpack does Percy use? What kind of t-shirts would he wear? What kind of sheath does Annabeth use for her dagger? Is Grover a cargo shorts kind of guy? And the all-important question: What pattern does Chiron prefer in his sweater vest?”
A lot to think about, for sure.
Casting, it seems, is also underway. Riordan notes he believes they have almost cast the primary trio of Percy, Grover, and Annabeth for the Disney+ series. But he can’t reveal any other details than that at this moment.
The series heads to production in summer 2022.
Originally published on October 21, 2021.