“Percy Jackson and the Olympians”. This book series has been around since June 28th, 2005. Since then, many adaptations have been created, and many have failed miserably. The most well-known are the movies, “Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief,” and “Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.”
Fans of the books were all very excited for the film adaptations to come out, however when they finally did, they were a large disappointment to many of them, as they trailed off quite a lot from the book.
As of 2020, Disney announced that they would be releasing a TV series based off of the Percy Jackson books. Again, many fans have been tremendously excited about the release of the new TV show as they hope that it will make up for the movies.
Disney’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” has not been a disappointment. With the premier of the first two episodes of season one, based on “The Lightning Thief,” released on December 19th, 2023, we have received another six episodes since then and they have all been just as amazing as the first two.
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is, for the most part, based around Greek mythology and Greek Gods and Goddesses. “I do like the show because Greek Mythology is one of my favorite topics which is perfectly portrayed in Percy Jackson,” says Luke Seguin, a fan of the series.
In the very beginning, Percy (Walker Scobell) is simply a sixth-grade boy with a bad case of dyslexia and ADHD when a fury, one of Hades’s best warriors, comes after him and his best friend Grover Underwood (Aryan Simhadri) on a school field trip to the museum. Percy soon discovers that he is actually a demi-god, the son of Poseidon. Percy is sent to Camp Half-blood to live with a bunch of other demi-god children, such as Annabeth Chase (Leah Sava Jeffries), Luke Castellan (Charlie Bushnell), and Clarisse La Rue (Dior Goodjohn). He is then sent on a quest with Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase to retrieve Zues’ missing lightning bolt. The problem is, everybody thinks that he’s the lightning thief.
Rick Riordan, the author of the books, actually pitched the idea for a show to Disney in 2019. When the actual production of the series began taking place, he was able to hand-pick the cast. Unlike a few people out there, I believe that he did an excellent job. I think it’s a good thing that they cast 14-17-year-olds as the main cast since they are supposed to be twelve in the series. Most films and TV shows have high schoolers and middle schoolers being portrayed by fully grown adults. Now, I do understand why they do that, but having children who are around the same age as the characters in the series might be what makes this show even more magical.
“I like the show so far because the three main characters, Annabeth Chase, Grover Underwood, and Percy Jackson, all have such amazing chemistry, and watching them feels so natural. The writing is so much better than the movies,” says Logan Garrison, who is a huge fan of the series. Leah Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri, and Walker Scobell do indeed have amazing chemistry on screen. I really love how well they portray the characters, it’s almost like they are Percy, Grover, and Annabeth. One particular scene, in episode five, “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers,” Percy and Annabeth are confronted with a terrifying ultimatum which would leave one of them staying behind encased in gold. Leah and Walker had such heartfelt moments all throughout this episode and you could really see how much the characters truly cared for each other.
Personally, my favorite character in this show is Percy Jackson himself. I absolutely adore how he was written. The sass that he carries throughout every scene was definitely a deciding factor. Along with the things that he says in the series, such as “She met a pinecones fate.” I laughed a lot more than I probably should have. I also believe that Walker Scobell, who portrays Percy, is doing an extraordinary job. He has chemistry with every person in every scene and he really makes the show feel real.
Percy may be my favorite character, but that doesn’t mean that he’s everyone else’s. For instance, “Grover is by far my favorite character, I love the way that he’s written and Aryan Simhardi’s acting is amazing.” says Logan Garrison. Grover is truly an astonishing character I have to admit. I, too, love how he’s written. Aryan does an incredible job at bringing comedy and friendship to the show. For example, when he’s singing his “Consensus” song, it may not have solved the conflict, but it definitely lightened the mood.
Annabeth Chase is, in every way, just as bewildering as Percy or Grover is. Annabeth is the daughter of Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and Battle strategy, so we can automatically assume that she has her mother’s brains. Annabeth uses her smarts to get the trio out of almost every obstacle they come across. She also has a Yankees baseball cap that she uses anytime they are in danger. However, it’s not simply an ordinary baseball hat. It’s magic. When someone puts the hat on their head, they immediately become invisible. The cap was a gift from her mother, Athena. Many of the children at Camp Half-Blood have received some sort of gift from their godly parents, those that have been claimed at least. Some examples of gifts that the gods have given their children are, Luke’s flying shoes, Annabeth’s hat, Clarisse’s spear, and Percy’s ballpoint pen that turns into a sword.
Some children go their entire lives without knowing what God or Goddess is their parent. They tend to hang around cabin 11, Hermes cabin. Hermes is the God of thieves and travelers, therefore anyone who has not been claimed usually ends up staying in the Hermes cabin with his biological children.
This series seems to be very similar to the books as far as I can tell. All of the “monsters” that they have encountered have been something that they saw in the book. Medusa, for example, or Echidna, mother of monsters. Everything from the books has been well recapped and anything that the producers changed have only made the production better.
Overall, Percy Jackson and the Olympians was an amazing book and it’s making an extraordinary TV show. So the next time you’re scrolling through Disney+ trying to find something to watch, maybe take a look at Percy Jackson.
