Grab your sharpest sword, buff your shield to a mirror shine, and get ready for an adventure because Percy Jackson is coming back! That’s right, fellow Olympians, a Percy Jackson reboot series is finally happening! Disney+ has ordered Percy Jackson and the Olympians, an epic adventure series based on—and closely aligned with—Disney Hyperion’s best-selling book series by award-winning author Rick Riordan with more than 180 million books in print globally.
Per Disney’s official press release:
Riordan and Jon Steinberg (Black Sails, FX’s upcoming The Old Man) will write the pilot with James Bobin (The Mysterious Benedict Society, Dora and the Lost City of Gold) directing. Steinberg will oversee the series with his producing partner Dan Shotz. Steinberg and Shotz serve as executive producers alongside Bobin, Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Bert Salke, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jim Rowe, and Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, D.J. Goldberg.
Author Rick Riordan announced the project himself on Tuesday:
Geared towards a general audience and especially tweens, teens, and young adults, 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.
“With Rick Riordan, Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz 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, and we’re eager to invite Disney+ audiences into stories that are true to the blockbuster franchise and full of anticipation, humor, surprise, and mystery,” said Ayo Davis, president of Disney Branded Television.
“Bringing Rick Riordan’s brilliant Percy Jackson books to Disney+ as a television series has been a mission for so many of us at this company as well as for Rick himself, and Jon, Dan, James and the excellent team they have assembled have proven to be the perfect collaborators. Thanks to our friends at Disney Branded Television led by Ayo, and Disney Streaming led by Michael, this will be an adaptation for the ages, with all the excitement, action and mythology fans of the books expect and love,” said Karey Burke, 20th Century Television President.
Added president of Disney Streaming Michael Paull, “The opportunity to deliver a new fantastical series based on the bestselling book franchise to audiences around the world is thrilling and we look forward to what our partners at 20th Television, Disney Branded Television and the ingenious Rick Riordan have in store for demigods everywhere.”
Oh man, I suddenly feel quite old. I remember reading Riordan’s Percy Jackson series rather fondly back in the day and am genuinely interested in this project. The time seems right for a Percy Jackson reboot, and the thought of James Bobin helming the series has me very excited. If you’ve not seen Bobin’s work, do yourself a favor and check out an episode or two of The Mysterious Benedict Society. It’s strange and funny and has a Wes Anderson vibe to it that I found to be quite charming. Bobin feels like a perfect fit for Disney’s Percy Jackson reboot, fans of the series should be stoked!