(Photo courtesy of: Disney+) “Disney’s ‘Percy Jackson’ series is a smash hit.”
Sarah Mahannah
Connector Editor
Nearly twenty years after the release of “The Lightning Thief”, author Rick Riordan teamed up with Disney to create a television show based off of the five-book series. The first season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” has been airing weekly on Tuesdays since Dec. 19, 2023 on Disney+.
The series stars Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson, Leah Jeffries as Annabeth Chase and Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood. The cast of gods, goddesses and other characters is stacked. Some of these are Timothy Omundson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Megan Mullaly and the late Lance Reddrick.
This is the second attempt at bringing the famous young adult series to Hollywood. The first attempt was in 2010 with a movie based off the first book that starred Logan Lerman, Alexandria Daddario, and Brandon T. Jackson. The movie received mixed reviews, with some finding it a comedic movie, but most felt that it was not aligned with the books.
The author, Rick Riordan, has a pivotal role in the television series, unlike in the films. The eight-episode season will dive further into the books and attempts to stay novel-accurate which has caused it to receive high reviews from viewers.
At just 12 years old, Percy Jackson discovers he is a demi-god, which is the child of a human and a god. His algebra teacher, Mrs. Dodds attacks him and reveals her true form as a Fury, a servant of Hades.
His Algebra teacher is not the only mythological creature that has been around Percy. He discovers that his best friend Grover is a satyr who is there to protect him and his teacher Mr.Brunner is actually a centaur named Chrion who is the director of Camp Half Blood.
While at camp Percy Jackson will meet many other campers from the novels such as Annabeth Chase, Luke Castellan and Clarisse La Rue.
Percy’s relationships will be tested when he is given a quest. He ultimately chooses Annabeth and Grover. The three must travel across America to return Zeus’ master lightning bolt in order to stop a war on Olympus.
Percy will face not only the challenges of getting the lightning bolt, but making friendships and discovering who he is after his life has been turned upside down. He searches for many things such as where his mother is and who he is supposed to be.
The series has been extremely popular among viewers, with season two not officially greenlit but showrunners have reported to have started it. The season finale airs Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. EST on Disney+.
Overall Grade: A
