To Percy Jackson fans of all ages, the time has come! Disney has released the first teaser trailer for the new Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV series and it’s so beautiful I shed one demi-god-magic-filled tear.
The show, based on author Rick Riordan’s popular young-adult fantasy series, sees our hero back in book-accurate glory, as an eager 12-year-old entering the mystical Camp Half-Blood to learn about his fate as a Grecian Demi-god. Percy, played by the precocious Walker Scobell, is the son of ocean god Poseidon and mortal woman Sally Jackson. After discovering his powerful background, he finds himself navigating a world of magic and action among fellow « half-blood » children, Annabeth (daughter of goddess Athena, played by Leah Sava Jeffries) and Grover (a mythical Sartyr, played by Aryan Simhadri).
This is the second attempt at adapting Riordan’s series after the first film series — a duology helmed by a slightly too-old, but still very lovable, Logan Lerman — failed to capture the glory of the olympian universe in the eyes of both fans and critics. Riordan’s been vocal about his desire to accurately depict his books and recently told The Wrap that Disney plans to follow a one-book-per-season format to « do justice » to the series.
The TV show is already sticking much more closely to the original material, even using the very first lines of the novel series as the first words spoken by our young hero. « Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood, » Percy says. « Being a half-blood is dangerous. It’s scary. Most of the time it gets you killed… Don’t say I didn’t warn you. »
The short teaser leaves a lot of questions about Percy and his mismatched crew of preteen half-bloods, but the overall reaction seems to be one of unanimous childhood glee. Can someone please get Logan Lerman on the phone?
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is expected to premiere on Disney+ next year.
