After a busy weekend at D23, fans of Greek mythology are inspired Percy Jackson book series have news of the streaming adaptation coming to Disney+. Percy Jackson and the Olympians began filming this summer despite negative reactions to some of the casting, and now the public is waiting to find out when the show will be available to stream. To stop them, Disney has released a teaser that shows how great the series will be compared to the previous film adaptations.
Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz are the showrunners, with the author of the books Rick Riordan being the creator and executive producer of the series. Walker Scobell, known for his role in the Ryan Reynolds-directed film The Adam Project, plays the titular demigod. Leah Sava Jeffries is Annabeth Chase, a daughter of Athena and a fierce warrior and friend of Percy. Jeffries was in the shows before Empire and riot. Percy’s best friend Grover, who is actually a satyr sent to protect him, is played by Aryan Simhadri. The young actor previously worked with Disney on the films To spin and Trevor: the musical.
Let’s break down the main takeaways from the teaser, from the cabins to the return of our favorite t-shirts.
The voice-over is straight from the book
Fans of the popular book series may recognize the tradition. That’s because it’s from the first page of The lightning thief, the first book in the series. Fans of the books have gone wild on TikTok, posting videos showing the differences, and comment sections are filled with people noting how excited they were when they heard it.
Look, I didn’t want to be a half-breed. Being half-blood is dangerous. It is scary. It usually kills you. If you think you could be one of us, my advice is: turn away while you still can. Believe whatever lie your mother or father has told you about your birth. Try to lead a normal life. Because once you know what you are, they will feel it too, and they will come for you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
There are some minor changes due to the new medium, but it comes straight from the opening scene of the book. The most notable changes are the removal of references to reading the material. ‘Close this book now’ has been changed to ‘turn off while you still can’ and a section on ‘recognizing yourself in these pages’ has been completely removed. “Look, I didn’t want to be a half-breed” is what opens the book initially, so it’s a great nod to fans to open the teaser. The voice-over also ends with the same line that ends the book’s introduction.
Ultimately, it’s great feedback for fans and hints as to how much the series is likely to get from the source material.
The images are stunning
A significant portion of the book takes place at Camp Half-Blood, the space designed to protect children of the gods and teach them how to protect themselves from enemies. Each of the gods has a hut, designed explicitly with their children in mind. There are a total of 20 cabins, some of which are more occupied than others.
The huts of the original film adaptation, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, left a lot to be desired. In the books, Poseidon’s (Percy’s god-father) hut has walls made of abalone shells and a fountain. In the movie it looks like something adapted from a Survivor trunk, made of wood and resembles a boat dock. The series turns that on its head, creating a beautiful blue hut that looks like it came straight from ancient Greece. It has tall columns, wave decorations at the top and lanterns that resemble those of boats.
The other two on display are equally amazing, with nice colors and varied architecture, so it will probably be very clear which god each cabin represents when the show hits our screens.
The orange shirts are back
One of the most iconic and easiest costumes fans have made to cosplay and dress up as their favorite characters are the orange Camp Half-Blood shirts. In the books, every camper wears them no matter the occasion. The film adaptation didn’t include them, which was a shame for fans who made their own before the premiere. The musical based on the series, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musicaluses the orange shirts in some shows.
The teaser shows all the campers, including the new Percy, wearing them. The design is a little different from what many have created for themselves, although the Pegasus icon is still there. Hopefully, when the series is released, fans will be able to buy their own series.
While it looks like viewers will have to wait until 2024 to see the series in its finished glory, likely because of the new technology used to create it, check out some of the other shows coming this month on Disney+.