Like many college students my age, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan, and the subsequent Roman and Egyptian series were central to my reading life growing up. I have always been of the opinion that the Percy Jackson series and subsequent universe is better than the Harry Potter series (though both were childhood favorites of mine). Something that prevents this notion from being more widespread may be the fact that the Percy Jackson movies, which were released in the early 2010s, were absolutely atrocious.
The movies only loosely followed the plot of the books. Many important characters were vastly altered, or in some cases written out entirely. The second and final movie in particular was a clunky attempt to merge the major plotlines of Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters (book two) and Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian (the fifth and final book in the series), and the result was a rushed, inaccurate, brutal film adaptation of an incredible book series. As somebody who had always loved the Riordan universe growing up – and as somebody who still does – I will never forgive 20th Century Fox and 1492 Pictures for how badly they messed up the film adaptation Percy Jackson. All the potential was there for a generational series and universe of films and TV shows. I’m talking about a Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Marvel Cinematic Universe level of film universe, if they had gotten it right.
Much has been said about all the ways in which the movies failed to do the books justice, but thankfully for fans of the series, Disney recently acquired the film adaptation rights to the Percy Jackson books, and around the turn of the new year they released the much anticipated TV show adaptation of the first book in the series, The Lightning Thief.
Shortly after the TV series adaptation was announced, it was made clear that Rick Riordan would be far more involved in the production of the show than he was with the production of the movies (of which he was deeply critical).
Though the eight episode show that Disney produced was not perfect, it was far better than the movies. Firstly, the show largely stayed true to the plot of the books. Walker Scobell, who plays the role of Percy did an excellent job of portraying the protagonist son of Poseidon. The other main characters, Annabeth and Grover, were excellently portrayed by Leah Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri, respectively. The portrayals of the Greek Gods themselves, specifically those of Poseidon, Zeus, Ares and Hermes also felt far more true to the books than the movies had ever achieved.
Perhaps my only significant complaint throughout the series was that some of the fight scenes could have been a bit more dramatic, but we are rewarded with an excellent fight scene in the final episode, though I won’t say between who for fear of spoiling it for those who either haven’t seen the show or haven’t read the book. The pacing of the series did feel odd at times, with some episodes feeling a bit slow, but the last two episodes in particular were incredibly produced, action packed, and – most importantly – closely followed the ending of the original book. I would go into more detail about what specifically the final two episodes did so well, but again, I don’t want to ruin the story for anybody who hasn’t watched it yet.
What is perhaps most exciting for fans of the series is that, because the first season was very well received, it has already been announced that a second season, following the plot of the second book in the series, The Sea of Monsters, is already in the works. Hopefully the show continues to build on the strong momentum from season one. What is really exciting is that if the franchise continues to be successful, there is a whole universe that Riordan has already written that can be brought to the screen. After The Sea of Monsters there are three more books in the original Percy Jackson series, and then there are the five Heroes of Olympus books in which the Greek demigod protagonists from the original book series crossover with Roman demigods. There are also plenty of short stories regarding the main characters that fill in the gaps between the books of both the original series and the subsequent Heroes of Olympus series. Not to mention, Riordan also has The Kane Chronicles Egyptian mythology trilogy, and his more recent Norse mythology series, both of which are connected to the Percy Jackson series in their own way.
Though the show itself was exciting, what is really the biggest win here is that this incredible universe finally feels like it could all be brought to the screen, and be done in a way that satisfies fans of the books. Circling back to Harry Potter, one of the things that is so impressive about that franchise is how well the movies adapted a series of very long, complex books into a movie series. The failure of the original Percy Jackson series is a reminder that, no matter how good the book series, a movie adaptation can always mess it up. For fans like myself who have loved diving back into the world of Greek Gods, demigods, monsters, heroes and villains, the potential to see so many of our favorite books from when we were growing up effectively brought to life on screen is endlessly exciting.
I have just one problem with the show. It got the tone wrong. I by no means like the movies but they got the tone of Percy Jackson right. The show was too serious and all of the suspense of the monsters were taken out instead of figuring out who the monsters are annabeth or the monsters just say it. The show was great but in future seasons needs to get the tone and the suspense right