If anyone who was an avid reader of Young Adult literature in the early 2010s was asked what the worst book-to-movie adaptation they'd ever seen was, many would cite the two Percy Jackson movies. Percy Jackson and the Olympians was a beloved series that followed a teenage demigod (the son of the Greek god Poseidon and a mortal woman) through his various adventures and quests in a world where Greek mythology isn't so mythological. The books were loved for their characters and the humorous writing style, along with the genuinely engaging story. When the books got adapted into films, fans were excited to see their favorite characters translated to the big screen.
This excitement was short-lived, however, because the movies were not very good. The movies made a lot of unnecessary changes to the books and failed to capture the same spirit and tone that fans initially fell in love with. They were pretty much universally hated, and the series stopped after two movies rather than adapting all five books.
The author of the original series himself, Rick Riordan, was fairly outspoken about how much he disliked the film adaptations of his work. This was all Percy Jackson fans had for on-screen adaptations until it was announced in 2020 that Disney Plus would be producing a Percy Jackson TV series, this time with more direct creative involvement from Riordan. Fans are hopeful that this series won't fail as badly as the movies did, but what exactly will this adaptation have to do to be successful?
Fixing The Ages of the Characters
One of the main criticisms of the Percy Jackson movie adaptations is that the characters are aged up for seemingly no reason. In the books, Percy is 12 when the story starts and 16 in the final book. This is important, because readers who read the books when they were first released got to "grow up" with Percy and the other characters, and because the target audience for the books was middle-grade kids, it made sense that the characters would be that age as well. In general, it also just allows for a lot of character development because the reader gets to see Percy grow and mature as he gets older and comes into his power more and more.
Throwing the idea of preteen characters out and immediately aging the characters up to around 16 during The Lightning Thief (the first movie and book) takes away from that growth, and it lessens the stakes. Part of why the story works is because the characters are so young when it begins and they have to deal with all kinds of crazy monsters and gods. Them being older teenagers in the movies is less interesting, and just isn't in the spirit of the original books. In order for the series to correct this, they'll need to cast actors that are closer in age to their book counterparts. It would please a lot of the fans who were upset by this change in the movies, and it will allow for the story to be more authentic to its source material.
Tone and Writing
Fundamentally, the Percy Jackson books are fun. They're written for children and feature a protagonist who is often goofy and sassy, and since the story is from his perspective, that's the overall tone that the books take. They have their serious moments, especially in the later books as Percy gets older and the stakes get higher, but there's still an overall lightness to them. The movies sort of failed in this regard; they have somewhat funny moments, but only a few jokes land and the rest are quite forgettable. The movies were missing the sort of levity that was present in the books.
The show can easily fix this with better, less clunky writing. Rick Riordan is heavily involved in the writing for the series, which seems to indicate that the tone of the story will fit in much better (and be much closer to) the writing of the original book series. After all, if they have the author himself writing for this show, how could it not? The show needs to have that same goofy quality surrounding Percy that was in the books, because it's so integral to his character and the way he views the world. Something as basic as good writing would itself be enough to propel the show far past the movies in terms of quality.
Better Pacing
Telling a story through a TV series with multiple episodes theoretically gives more time for the characters to develop and for the smaller details to make their way into the plot, which is something that can't always be done in the span of a two-hour movie. A lot of book adaptations work better as TV series (such as Shadow and Bone) because they have more time to work with and tell their story within. The movies tried to pack one book (that's full of action) into a single movie, which meant that there wasn't time to get to know and care about the characters or the world. The second movie, Sea of Monsters, also tried to include elements of later books into the story to condense it, which was another major factor in why it didn't work.
It hasn't been confirmed yet, but it's assumed that the first season of the show will follow the plot of The Lightning Thief, and then potential future seasons will explore the other books. This would be a good way to split up the story because it would allow plenty of time to watch the characters - specifically the main trio of Percy, Annabeth, and Grover - get to know each other, and for the plot to be less rushed. As far as pacing goes, a TV show is much closer to a book than a movie is, simply because it's longer, and that format alone will allow more time for character growth. The show will need good writing to support that, of course, but as long as they take the time to make the characters relatable and interesting, they'll have a certified hit.
The Percy Jackson series should have been just as popular as Harry Potter was, and maybe it could have been if its movie adaptations had succeeded. As it is, the world may get to see a Percy Jackson renaissance when the series comes out and new kids (and adults) are introduced to stories that have been beloved by many for so many years. Fixing the problems with the movies basically comes down to making sure the writing is actually good this time, and more closely follows the outline that the novels provided for a story. No need to fix what isn't broken, after all. As long as the TV series doesn't try to model itself on the (very broken) Percy Jackson movies, fans might finally get some closure.