Ahead of the December 20 release of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the cast and crew behind the series adaptation of Rick Riordan’s best-selling novel series discussed the inspiration behind the show in a newly released featurette.
In the clip, the author behind Percy Jackson and the Olympians shared how he came up with the story. He revealed that it all started as a bedtime story for his young son, who was struggling at school due to dyslexia and ADHD.
“The one thing he did love was Greek mythology. So I started telling him stories from the Greek myths. When I ran out of the old stuff, I made up a new Greek hero,” said Riordan.
As the series prepares for its Disney+ debut, Walker Scobell — who will play Percy Jackson in the series — also introduced his character in the recently released clip alongside Aryan Simhadri and Leah Sava Jeffries, both of whom will play Grover and Annabeth, respectively.
What can we expect from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV adaptation?
The novel was first adapted into a 20th Century Fox’s film series starring Logan Lerman as the titular character. Lerman has recently shared his sentiments about the series adaptation, saying that the “the show looks amazing” and that he “can’t imagine a better fit for Percy Jackson than [Scobell].”
The synopsis for the upcoming series reads: “Percy Jackson and the Olympians 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.”
Directed by James Bobin and based on a screenplay co-written by Riordan and Jon Steinberg, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series also stars Charlie Bushnell as Luke Castellan, Dior Goodjohn as Clarisse La Rue, Olivea Morton as Nancy Bobofit, Glynn Turman as Chiron, Timm Sharp as Gabe Ugliano, Virginia Kull as Sally Jackson, and Megan Mullally as Mrs. Dodds.
Rounding out the cast are Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hermes, Jason Mantzoukas as Dionysus, Adam Copeland as Ares, Timothy Omundson as Hephaestus, Jay Duplass as Hades, Toby Stephens as Poseidon, and the late Lance Reddick as Zeus.
