Percy Jackson fans vindicated with announcement of Disney Plus series

If you grew up reading the Percy Jackson books and were sorely disappointed with the 2010 film adaptation, you’re about to get some sweet justice: a Percy Jackson series is in development at Disney Plus, and author Rick Riordan will be involved “in every aspect of the show.”

Riordan and his wife Becky announced the news via a Twitter video, tweeting out a more detailed announcement of the project right after.

Hey Percy Jackson fans, for the past decade, you’ve worked hard to champion a faithful on-screen adaptation of Percy Jackson’s world. Some of you have even suggested it would be a great series for Disney Plus. We couldn’t agree more! We can’t say much more at this stage but we are very excited about the idea of a live-action series of the highest quality, following the storyline of the original Percy Jackson five-book series, starting with The Lightning Thief in season one. Rest assured that Becky & I will be involved in person in every aspect of the how. There will. be much more news in the future, but for now, we have a lot of work to do! Buckle up, demigods. It’s going to be a fantastic, exciting ride!

The idea of a Disney-helmed Percy Jackson series has been circulating since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, with Riordan even speaking of hypothetical projects on his blog. When Disney Plus launched, fans took to Twitter with the hashtag #DisneyPlusAdaptPercyJackson and a petition showing fan interest. The middle-grade series debuted in 2005 and followed the titular demigod hero in a world where Greek gods, heroes, and monsters were real.

The core series spanned five books and focused on Percy’s adventures with Annabeth Chase, the determined daughter of Athena, and satyr Grover. A sequel series blended elements of Roman mythology into the world, with various spinoff series focusing on Egyptian and Norse mythologies. As far as the main Greek-mythology focused Percy Jackson books go, the current series, Trials of Apollo, is set to get a last book in September of this year. A musical adaptation of The Lightning Thief premiered Off-Broadway in 2017 to positive reviews. In 2016, Riordan partnered with Disney-Hyperion publishing to launch an imprint called Rick Riordan presents, designed to showcase “diverse, mythology-based fiction by new, emerging, and under-represented authors.” Titles include Dragon Pearl by Yooh Ha Lee which adapts Korean mythology and Maya-inspired The Storm Runner by Jennifer Cervantes.

Polygon reached out to Disney, who did not immediately confirm the series at the time of the announcement. There is no word on further production news on the Disney Plus series, other than Riordan’s reassurance that he and Becky will be heavily involved. Riordan’s spoken of his dislike of the movie adaptations, particularly how they aged up the characters and deviated from the script.

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