Percy Jackson is one of those franchises that seems to have had bad luck when it comes to screen adaptations. But unlike others which have apparently been doomed to obscurity, this popular series of novels from Rick Riordan is getting another show in the spotlight, and this time, it sounds like the folks in charge are committed to doing things right.
Riordan himself has just announced that The Adam Project star Walker Scobell has joined the upcoming Percy Jackson Disney+ series as its title character. Given the young actor's standout performance opposite Ryan Reynolds in the aforementioned Netflix film, it should come as no surprise that he has the chops to lead a series like this. Riordan also appears to agree, based on his enthusiastic appraisal.
"Walker Scobell is an incredibly talented young man who blew us away with his audition tapes for the role of Percy," Riordan wrote on his website. "Many of you recently discovered how great Walker is when you watched his movie The Adam Project, in which Walker lit up the screen as a younger version of Ryan Reynolds' character. We were fortunate enough to audition Walker months before that movie came out, but the film only confirmed what we already knew about his talent. It was obvious to me and the rest of the team that Walker had the perfect mix of comedic timing, sweetness, rebelliousness, snark and heroism to embody our hero Percy Jackson." The fact that Riordan discovered Scobell's talent even before the admittedly confusing The Adam Project bodes well for the actor's abilities.
The Percy Jackson series of books follows a 12-year-old boy dealing with a number of issues in his everyday life, namely ADHD and dyslexia. But he later discovers that these appear to be due to the fact that he's actually a demigod, and the son of Poseidon himself (no, not the program in Las Vegas from Horizon: Forbidden West. The other one.). He's sent to a magical summer camp called Camp Half-Blood, specifically for demigod children, which sets him and his new friends on a path of adventure and wise-cracking excitement across the country.
Officially titled Percy Jackson and the Olympians, just like the overarching name of the book series, the Disney+ adaptation will feature much more involvement from Riordan than the ill-fated films loosely based on his first 2 books. This time around, he actually wrote the pilot episode, which should offer some solace to any concerned fans cautiously awaiting this new retelling. Many readers were disappointed in the 2010 and 2013 Percy Jackson movie adaptations, which not only aged up the characters, but took a number of liberties with the source material, ultimately causing Riordan to step away from the projects.
In a world where many thought Percy Jackson missed his chance to be the next Harry Potter, maybe the Disney+ series will give the character the second shot he needs to fulfill that destiny. Plus, both the stories and the author are much more forward-thinking and open to representation, so there's a lot of potential here for young fans to find a wonderful new world to immerse themselves in.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is set to begin production in June 2022.
Source: Rick Riordan