Even though Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+ has only just come out, it may already be the best adaptation of famous the book series.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians stars Walker Scobell as the titular character alongside Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri as Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood respectively. In the series, Percy and his friends must embark on a quest to find Zeus’s thunderbolt and prevent all-out war.
Previously, the Percy Jackson series has been adapted into a short-lived film series as well as a musical. Now with the current TV series, we have an opportunity to receive the most faithful adaptation of the books in a long-form format. Already this seems to be the case.
Warning this may contain minor spoilers to the first two episodes as well as future events in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please come back at a later date.
Percy Jackson Episodes 1 and 2 Take a Major Focus On Characters
One of the greatest aspects of the series so far is its major focus on characters. During the film series, we simply were not able to get to know these characters as well as with a TV series with 8 40 minute long episodes.
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I think it will also prove to be quite beneficial to help the audience understand some of the decisions these characters will make (I’m looking at you, Luke).
You also get to see specifically Percy’s struggle with adapting to his new life after being attacked by various gods and monsters. Of course, we get to see this a little bit in the movies; however, a lot of this is hard to show in just a two-hour timeframe. Just these two episodes alone don’t even cross two hours but manage to give us so much more in terms of learning who these characters are.
Casting Age-Appropriate Actors
Another thing the Percy Jackson TV series got right automatically was its cast that actually matches the ages of the characters in the books.
One of the major problems the film series faced (besides its horrible writing and inaccuracy to the books) was the cast growing out of their characters. By the second movie, the writers were already having to change the prophecy because the actors had become too old for their roles.
Since this is a TV series and TV seasons don’t take as long to make as feature films, this likely will not be an issue. Especially considering the actors are the correct age from the start, while in the films they started at 16 years old.
Rick Riordan’s Involvement Should Prevent Something Like The Tragic Film Series From Happening Again
Rick Riordan, the author of the original book series, is working on the TV series as a writer and executive producer, so it goes without saying that he will know his characters better than anyone.
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The one thing that caused the film series to be pretty much dead on arrival was the filmmakers’ neglection of Riordan. Oftentimes times the films differed from the books in very weird ways that didn’t serve the plot at all. Especially in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters with what they decided to do with the villain at the end of that film. The film series felt like they were trying to rush things along so they didn’t have to deal with their aging cast so they were trying to adapt more than one book at a time.
Riordan has already stated that each season will only be adapting one book at a time. This means we will have plenty of time for these stories to develop and make sense.
Overall it seems like the Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV series is already off to a great start. Hopefully, they can keep this momentum as the season progresses.
About Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Premiere Date: December 19, 2023 (released weekly)
Episodes: 8 episodes x 39-44 minutes
Executive Producers / Creators: Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg
Executive Producers: Dan Shotz, Rebecca Riordan, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, D. J. Goldberg, Bert Salke, James Bobin, Jim Rowe, Monica Owusu-Breen, Anders Engström, and Jet Wilkinson
Cast: Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri
Synopsis
Based on Disney Hyperion’s best-selling book series by award-winning author Rick Riordan, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is a Disney+ Original series that tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who’s just coming to terms with his newfound divine powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover and Annabeth, Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus.
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