“Percy Jackson” Show Finally Receives Greenlight
Rick Riodan fans, rejoice! The previously announced Disney+ original series of Riordan’s beloved work “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” finally got a greenlight today.
‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ Series Gets Greenlight at Disney Plus https://t.co/zSOmS3WByb
— Variety (@Variety) January 25, 2022
First announced today by Riordan himself on a video released by Disney+, the long-awaited series now moves forward in the production process. The stories of halfblood Percy Jackson already captured the hearts of millions of young adults years ago when the texts first debuted as well as through previous film and Broadway adaptations.
“With Rick Riordan, Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz leading our creative team, we’re deep into creating a compelling TV series worthy of the heroic mythological characters that millions of Percy Jackson readers know are well-worth caring about, and we’re eager to invite Disney+ audiences into stories that are true to the blockbuster franchise and full of anticipation, humor, surprise, and mystery,” Disney Branded Television President Ayo Davis said in a statement published by Variety today.
Excited fans though will still need to wait quite a while before the series debuts on Disney+ as it now begins casting for the large collection of roles required. The story of troubled Percy follows the 12-year-old and his friends through a series of challenges stirred up by their parents, many of which are Greek gods and goddesses. Indentifiable to so many, Percy struggles with both dyslexia and ADHD. Riordan based Jackson on his own son Haley, who also has ADHD and dyslexia and who helped to inspire the character’s creation.
First published in 2005, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” sold 1.2 million copies worldwide. It inspired not only four more books in the Percy Jackson series but also a number of other incredibly popular series by Riordan, including “The Kane Chronicles,” “Trials of Apollo,” and “Heroes of Olympus.” Riordan also wrote a series based on Norse mythology, which follows Magnus Chase, and very recently released a new book inspired by Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” titled “Daughter of the Deep.”
Riordan also helms Rick Riordan Presents, an arm of Disney-Hyperion publishing, dedicated to supporting authors creating mythologically-rooted text for readers in the middle grades. One of those texts, “Aru Shah and the End of Time” by Roshani Chokshi also prepares for the big screen as its rights were purchased recently by Paramount.
Feature Credit: Image Credit: Shaminder Dulai/Rapport