This month marks 14 years since 20th Century Fox released Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, the first film adaptation of Rick Riordan’s bestselling novel The Lightning Thief.
The story follows 12-year-old Percy Jackson’s wild adventures after discovering he is the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. With Home Alone and Harry Potter director Chris Colombus taking the reins, fans had high hopes for the film.
However, viewers left theaters feeling utterly disappointed, criticizing its deviation from the book and pacing issues. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters, the second book’s movie rendition, received similar backlash, and the movie series stopped altogether. Hence, Percy Jackson fans were thrilled when the idea of a new Percy Jackson TV series was confirmed in 2020, this time with Riordan working as an executive producer on the show.
The show’s first two episodes premiered on Dec. 19, 2023, exclusively on Disney+. The show immediately received positive feedback, and the remaining six episodes were released weekly.
“I liked the movies, but I didn’t like that the movies were so inaccurate to the books,” Walt Whitman junior Shreya Ohri said. “So I was really excited when I found out that the author was going to be working on the show. I knew that he would make sure the plot stayed true to the original storyline.”
One significant change between the two adaptations was the series’ casting and ages. In the books, the characters start at 12 years old and age a year in every book. In the first movie, however, the characters are 16, and their actors are even older.
Logan Lerman as Percy, Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth, and Brandon T. Jackson as Grover were 17, 23, and 25, respectively, at the time of filming. The age difference in the second movie was even more pronounced—viewers had to believe that Lerman, aged 21, Daddario, aged 26, and Jackson, aged 29, were still portraying teenagers.
The filmmakers took this criticism into account when casting characters for the series. The result was that the cast was much closer to their characters, but the characters’ ages also stayed true to those of the original books. Walker Scobell as Percy, Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth, and Aryan Simhadri were 13, 12, and 16, respectively, at the time of filming.
The series also featured an incredibly diverse cast. When searching for actors, the casting directors issued an open casting call, allowing people to submit auditions regardless of race.
In the book, the three main characters are white. Percy is known for his “jet-black hair” and “sea-green eyes,” and Annabeth is known for her “curly blond hair” and “stormy gray eyes.” However, Scobell has blonde hair, and neither Jeffries nor Simhadri are white.
Historically, the entertainment industry, particularly Hollywood, has been criticized for its lack of diversity and underrepresentation of minority groups. Open casting calls are crucial in providing non-white actors equal opportunities, promoting diversity in casting, and contributing to a more inclusive and representative entertainment industry.
Riordan wanted to promote inclusivity in his show and prove that race does not matter, saying that “everybody can be a hero.” Although many people supported the final casting, others were unhappy with how things turned out.
“I’ve imagined [the characters] a certain way for a long time. And that’s something that’s not going to switch immediately,” Walt Whitman senior Marilena Adamantiades said. So I didn’t feel like it was very true to the books. And when I saw the characters, I didn’t feel like they were them.”
Apart from that, the show has received overwhelmingly positive reviews, with viewers appraising the characters’ acting and its similarities to the books. Overall, the show effectively encapsulates the childish wonder of how it was to imagine being a Half-Blood as a kid.
“I think overall, show adaptations of books can be good if they’re done right,” Ohri said. “I think this one was done pretty well.”
Article written by Sahana Thyagarajan of Walt Whitman High School
Image courtesy of Jobba