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Mark your calendars, demigods. Disney+ is currently developing an adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Olympians that will hopefully outdo the Logan Lerman film series. Not to be optimists, but we’re pretty excited for this trip to Camp Half-Blood. For one, the episodic nature of a TV show seems like it will fit the Rick Riordan series, in which the characters travel their way through modern-day versions of Greek myths. Also? They cast kids in the lead roles, as opposed to moody teenagers like the movie. Riordan has been much more involved in this version of Percy Jackson than the 2010 film adaptation. “They should censor the entire thing,” he tweeted about the movie in 2020. “Just two hours of blank screen. We’re gonna fix it soon.” As in, this time, he’s on set and posting about it on his blog. Below, everything the gods at Disney+ have shared about the upcoming series.
On the Percy front, Walker Scobell is on a titular-role streak. First he was Adam in The Adam Project (technically one of two Adams with Ryan Reynolds), and now he’s Percy in the Disney+ adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Riordan announced the casting on his website. “I got to deliver the news to Walker personally via Zoom back on Jan. 28 that he had been chosen for the part,” he wrote, “and it was a magical moment that made me feel for the first time: ‘Okay, this is real. This is worth all the waiting and the hard work. This project is going to be amazing.’”
Four months later, Percy Jackson (Riordan’s Version) cast its Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase. The official Percy Jackson series Twitter announced on May 5 that Leah Sava Jeffries (Empire) and Aryan Simhadri (Cheaper by the Dozen) have joined the official trio for the Disney+ show. Riordan blogged about the completed trio, promising fans that they “will do you proud.” Mr. Hamilton himself, Lin-Manuel Miranda, is playing the god with the best shoes, Hermes, whose son Luke is a … big deal in the first book in the series. Just saying.
The Greek chorus continued to fill up, with Variety announcing five more cast members during Percy Jackson’s first week of production in Vancouver last month, including Jason Mantzoukas and Megan Mullally, two comedy favorites. The Big Mouth and Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Mantzoukas will play Dionysus, a.k.a. Mr. D, the camp counselor for Camp Half-Blood while the Will & Grace and Party Down star Mullally will play Alecto, a.k.a. Mrs. Dodds, a math teacher who is one of the three Furies who are loyal to Hades. Joining them in the Riordan-approved adaption are Virginia Kull (Super Pumped), Glynn Turman (Women of the Movement), and Timm Sharp as Percy’s mother, Chiron a.k.a. Mr. Burner, and Percy’s stepfather, respectively. Industry’s Jay Duplass will play the god of the Underworld, Hades, while Psych’s Timothy Omundsen will play the god of blacksmiths, Hephaestus.
On August 18, Percy Jackson’s own birthday, we got a little teaser trailer featuring the elevator to Olympus, Annabeth kicking butt, Camp Half-Blood, Grover’s lower half, and more. It’s just a glimpse at bright color grading, kids who are at an age where they actually look like they could go to camp, and an appropriately ominous voice-over booming, “We’ve been expecting you.”
These days, time may be as unknowable as it is in the Lotus Hotel (and Casino), but it is drawing us closer to the first two episodes premiering on December 20. According one of Uncle Rick’s blog posts, the Disney+ series was “on track” with its schedule and was set to finish filming season one in December 2022 or January 2023. Factoring in time for postproduction, the author’s “personal best guess” was that the show will air in early 2024. However, that blog was later deleted, and in its place is a very similar blog post which has none of that information. Thankfully, that means it’d be sooner than expected.
This post has been updated throughout.
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