Convention - NYCC 2023 : Disney+ Percy Jackson and the Olympians panel

By Mulder, New York, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 15 october 2023

This year, Disney+ brought Percy Jackson and the Olympians, its new show based on the globally popular book series of the same name by Rick Riordan, to the Big Apple. Hop on your pegasus - or your laptop, that works too - and tune in.

Fans have been waiting for years for a proper adaptation of Rick Riordan's hit book series Percy Jackson and the Olympians -- but they wont have to wait too much longer, as we finally have a release date (and more) about the upcoming Disney+ series. So if you can't wait to go to Camp Half Blood, read on below to catch up on everything we know about the upcoming series. Percy Jackson and the Olympians will be premiering its first two episodes on Disney+ on December 20th. After the premiere, new episodes will be released on Wednesday each week.

While we don't have too much detail yet, Disney+ has released this following blurb, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians” tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who's just coming to terms with his newfound divine powers when the sky god, Zeus, accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover and Annabeth, Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus." While there is no full trailer for Percy Jackson and the Olympians yet, Disney+ has released an official teaser as well as a short promotional video. Watch them both below. Percy Jackson and the Olympians' showrunners are Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz. The first two episodes will be written by Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan as well as Jon Steinberg. The episodes will be directed by James Bobin. Executive producers include Steinberg, Shotz, Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, The Gotham Group's Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Bert Salke, The Gotham Group's Jeremy Bell and D.J. Goldberg, James Bobin, Jim Row, Monica Owusu-Breen, Anders Engström, and Jet Wilkinson. On December 20, 2023, Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 1 arrives for streaming on Disney+. The series stars Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson, Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth Chase, and Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood.

However, while the characters who serve as the show's protagonists may be aged 12, parents may be wondering whether or not the Disney+ series is appropriate for their little Olympians. Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 1 is rated TV-PG. This rating means that parental guidance is suggested. While the content is appropriate for older kids, younger kids may find it too intense.Part of the appeal of the Percy Jackson series is that it offers a modern myth that can be appreciated by the whole family. This is thanks in part to the fact that the series integrates classic mythology into a modern day setting. For many young readers who have enjoyed the books on which the new series is based, the Percy Jackson stories have served as a gateway to reading and learning the mythology that serves as the narrative's core inspiration. Percy Jackson's appeal to younger audiences goes back to the very earliest days of the series. When Percy Jackson creator Rick Riorden first told the story, it was to and for his son, Haley Riordan.

When the prose series was first adapted to screen with the 2010 and 2013 movies, the characters were aged up to 17 years old in order to cater to a slightly older audience. However, the Disney+ series hews more closely to the books on which it is based by featuring protagonists who are 12 years of age, instead. He wasn’t on the speakers’ list, but Percy Jackson & The Olympians creator Rick Riordan staged a surprise last-minute walk-on Sunday at New York Comic Con with his wife, Becky Riordan. The couple closed out a jam-packed panel for the upcoming Disney+ adaptation of author Riordan’s beloved, modern-day-mythological fantasy novels about a boy who learns he is the half-human son of the sea god Poseidon. “Let’s go to Camp Half-Blood and play capture the flag,” a smiling Riordan said from the stage, introducing the last of three exclusive sneak-peak clips from the series, which premieres December 20.

A capacity Comic Con audience — many already in orange and black Camp Half-Blood t-shirts handed out at the door — cheered inside the mammoth exhibition hall at Manhattan’s Javits Center. Then came a five-minute reel showing Percy, played by Walker Scobell, in a crucial early test of his fighting skills at the sleep-away camp for young demigods-in-training. Fans also saw a clip of the first seven minutes of the premiere, which traces Percy’s story back to second grade, and then a harrowing chase sequence with Percy, his mother Sally (Virginia Kull), and friend Grover (Aryan Simhadri) trying to outrun the dreaded Minotaur in a beat-up subcompact. The seven announced panelists were part of the creative team behind the camera, with showrunner-writers Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz and the director of the two-episode premiere, James Bobin, fielding questions alongside production designer Dan Hannah, costume designer Tish Monaghan, and visual effects supervisors Erik Henry and Jeff White. Steinberg immediately credited the close involvement of Riordan — at that point still secreted away someplace backstage — with bringing the series into being. “It would be extraordinarily difficult to try to do it justice, to do it right, without the person who dreamed it, and I think without the person who really did the work to sell it, and to find this audience and this fan base,” Steinberg said.

Riordan was famously unenthusiastic about the movie versions of his book series, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013), although they have grossed nearly $430 million at the worldwide box office despite the author’s criticisms and a lukewarm reaction from devoted readers. The book series, launched in 2005 with The Lightning Thief, saw its sixth installment, The Chalice of the Gods, published this month. They have sold more than 30 million copies in the U.S., and been translated into 42 languages while spawning graphic novels, short story collections, and a short-lived Broadway musical. “We were so unbelievably fortunate to be able to partner with Rick and Becky,” Shotz said. Both showrunners and director Bobin said their own children have read and cherished Riordan’s books, which grew out of stories the author made up to entertain his dyslexic son after they read the original Greek mythologies together. Season one takes a fresh run at The Lightning Thief tale, introducing Percy as a “troubled kid,” as the character himself puts it, with bad grades and school bullies on his case. Scobell’s Percy is a 12-year-old — unmistakably younger and more boyish than the movie version played by Logan Lerman — who struggles with dyslexia as well as unearthly visions that earn him a trip to a child therapist. He is only just becoming aware of his emerging powers. In one clip

Synopsis :
The adventures of a modern-day 12-year-old demigod, Percy Jackson, who has just accepted his new supernatural powers when the mighty Zeus accuses him of stealing his Lightning Bolt. Percy must search all over the United States to restore order to Olympus.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Created by Rick Riordan, Jonathan E. Steinberg
Based on Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan
Starring Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri
Composer : Bear McCreary
Executive producers: Jonathan E. Steinberg, Dan Shotz, James Bobin, Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Bert Salke, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jim Rowe, Anders Engström, Jet Wilkinson, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, D. J. Goldberg
Cinematography : Pierre Gill
Production companies : Quaker Moving Pictures, Co-Lab21, James Bobin Inc., Moorish Dignity Productions, The Gotham Group, 20th Television, Disney Branded Television
Original network : Disney+

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Photos and video : Boris Colletier / Mulderville