Percy Jackson And The Olympians Trailer Brings The Beloved Fantasy Books To Disney+
Rick Riordan's middle-grade book series "Percy Jackson and the Olympians," and its larger universe of ancient mythology-based books, is arguably one of the few franchises that could legitimately be considered the heir to the "Harry Potter" phenomenon — but with way fewer scandals. Like the magical teenage boy, Percy Jackson also got a big-budget theatrical film adaptation (one directed by "Harry Potter" alum Chris Columbus and starring Logan Lerman and Alexandra Daddario). It made decent money but was so horrendous the author still talks trash about the two movies today.
The story follows a tween boy who discovers he is the son of the actual Greek god Poseidon and a human woman and is tasked with going on a road trip across the United States to find Zeus' stolen lightning bolt or risk a war on Olympus. Now, fans of the books will get a second chance at seeing the story play out on screen. This time, however, creator Rick Riordan is actually involved and it will premiere on Disney+.
Among the upgrades for this version is that Zeus will be played by the late, great, Lance Reddick, whom Riordan had nothing but praise for, and Black actor Aryan Simhadri will play Annabeth — a casting choice that unsurprisingly led to the worst kind of internet discourse. This last part is particularly ridiculous considering how much "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" is about diversity and feeling like an outsider.
Watch the Percy Jackson and the Olympians trailer
Indeed, the "Percy Jackson" books started as a series of bedtime stories for Riordan's son, who struggled at school due to his dyslexia and ADHD. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about the upcoming show, Riordan, who is also a classroom teacher, talked about coming up with the idea for a new Greek hero:
"A modern-day kid named Percy Jackson who, like my son, has ADHD and dyslexia and finds out that those are indicators that you may well be a demigod. My son had no trouble believing that."
The trailer does a good job of making it clear this will be a more faithful, or at least a more encompassing adaptation, than the movies. We get a look at the show's magical summer camp for Demigods, Camp Half-Blood, some of the monsters Percy will encounter, and the gods he will face too. Whether it is everything "Percy Jackson" fans hope for, it is at the very least a cool throwback to the time when every studio was doing kid-friendly fantasy adventure movies — remember "Narnia?"
And hey, if this series can get a second life at a proper adaptation, maybe "Eragon" fans will get justice one day, too. Back in 2022, Disney+ announced it would adapt the Christopher Paolini books for TV — though who knows if Disney will actually want to have two fantasy shows on the same platform, given how many projects the studio has killed because they are remotely similar to "Star Wars" (like "Flash Gordon").
"Percy Jackson and the Olympians" premieres its first two episodes on December 20, 2023, on Disney+.