It’s been well over a year since it was first announced that Percy Jackson was being rebooted and reinvented as a Disney Plus episodic series, with author Rick Riordan heavily involved in the development process after making it abundantly clear he wasn’t particularly enamored with the previous live-action adaptations of his work.
The property has a huge number of fans who are thrilled at the Mouse House throwing its weight behind the literary favorite, but things have been moving at an agonizingly slow pace. Riordan revealed in January that the script for the pilot had been written, but he was still waiting on approval from the studio to start moving forward.
In April, he confirmed that the teleplay had been given the okay by the top brass, and then a casting call went out not long after that. On paper, that would make it seem as though things are beginning to gather steam, but it isn’t quite as straightforward. Taking to his website, Riordan offered another status update on Percy Jackson, which you can check out below.
“We had a very positive conversation yesterday (Friday, Aug. 20) with the top executives at the various branches of the Disney television organization: Disney Entertainment, Disney TV, 20th Century Studios, and Disney+. This was the first time all of us had been in the same room (well, Zoom room) so we could make sure we were all getting the same information and sharing the same goals. Having everyone together to align our visions for the show was extremely helpful, and I think a lot of confusion was resolved (speaking for my own confused self, anyway!).
The good news is: the leadership is “all in,” as they put it, about making this show and doing it right. A lot of them have kids who have grown up with Percy Jackson, too, so they get it. They get that there are millions and millions of you out there who are waiting excitedly to see Percy Jackson come to life in a new way. We felt supported and heard, and I am more confident than ever that this show is moving forward as it needs to. You all have made a difference. You always do. Showing up on social media, sharing your excitement for the show: Disney sees you. They have heard you and they want to do right by you Percy fans. That, for me, is priority one, so I am happy!”
We’re now fifteen months on from the initial announcement, and the pilot script has been written and approved, but Percy Jackson still hasn’t been given the green light to start gearing up for production. While that’s a bit of a bummer in some respects, it at least indicates Disney will be taking their time to ensure they get things right to avoid the mistakes that saw the last attempt at turning the books into a franchise cut short after two movies that yielded solid if unspectacular critical and commercial returns.