Disney+ new Percy Jackson and the Olympians series has begun filming, a new post by author Rick Riordan reveals. The author of the best-selling book series took to Instagram to post a new image from the set.
After much anticipation by fans, the Percy Jackson universe is finally expanding. The new series is targeted toward a general audience and especially tweens, teens, and young adults. Leading the cast in the titular role would be 13-year-old Walker Sobell who made his debut alongside Ryan Reynolds in Netflix’s The Adam Project. In a previous post on his blog Riordan wrote, “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.”
Along with fans Riordan was also dissatisfied with the live-action versions of his characters in both Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. Nonetheless, he is finally at the helm of the Disney+ series. He co-wrote the pilot episode with Jon Steinberg (Black Sails) and also serves as an executive producer on the show. Steinberg along with his producing partner, Dan Shotz will overlook the series.
Disney Branded TV president Ayo Davis previously said in a statement, “With Rick, Jon, and Dan leading our creative team, we’re deep into creating a compelling TV series worthy of the heroic mythological characters that millions of Percy Jackson readers know are well-worth caring about.” The new series will bring Greek mythology to the 21st century as demigod Percy along with his friends Grover and Annabeth will journey beyond the mortal world to prevent a war of gods.
The first season will take its inspiration from The Lightning Thief book and will have eight episodes. Accompanying Sobell to complete the trio will be Aryan Simhadri (Cheaper by the Dozen) playing demigod Grover and Leah Sava Jeffries who will play Annabeth, the daughter of the Greek goddess Athena. Currently, there’s no release date set for Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Here’s the synopsis for the show:
The live action series tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who's just coming to terms with his newfound supernatural powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. Now Percy must trek across America to find it and restore order to Olympus.
Take a look at Riordan’s post below: