‘Percy Jackson’ Disney+ Series Adds Showrunners and Additional Writers to Their Writers’ Room

Things are heating up on the Disney+ Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Earlier this week, the writers’ room began on the project, and now, Rick Riordan is sharing some big updates, including who the showrunners are and some additional writers.

Riordan took to his personal site to reveal Jonathan E. Steinberg, who was previously confirmed as a writer and Dan Shotz (Black Sails, Jericho) are on board as showrunners.

Jon and Dan bring an enormous amount of experience and talent to our project, and have been incredible, patient partners over the last year+ as Becky and I navigated our way through the early stages of the production process. (Plus they both have young readers at home who are Percy fans, and are even more insistent than I am about making the show like the books, so hooray!)

Rick Riordan

Additionally, the writers include Daphne Olive, who has worked with Steinberg and Shots on Black Sails, Monica Owusu-Breen (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Alias), and Joe Tracz (A Series of Unfortunate Events). Also a part of the mix are Xavier Stiles (Hemlock Grove), Zoë Neary (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency), and Stewart Strandberg (The Old Man), all of whom have contributed phenomenal ideas already, according to Riordan. Rick and Becky Riordan have both expressed their excitement on these new additions.

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Rick also revealed that he and Steinberg have already co-written the pilot episode tentatively titled “The Bible”, as well as outlined the first season:

Previously, Jon and I had co-written the script for the pilot episode, the series “bible,” and the outline of the first season (and a bit of sketching out the following seasons, assuming all goes well, of course). That work took the better part of a year, along with putting together a lot of other preliminary pieces for the show behind the scenes (a process that was complicated and slowed down considerably by Covid, as you can imagine). Now, the goal of the writers’ room will be to create the scripts for the remaining episodes of season one. At present, we are talking through outlines for episodes two and three. I can’t stress enough how great it is to work with a team that gets the spirit of PJO, and also brings new perspectives and new writing talent to the story. I am not the type to cut open a teddy bear and read the stuffing for signs of the future, but if I did, I think the auguries would be very favorable.

Riordan

The team is still waiting for an official order from Disney+, which will require the right director, the team has already been circling some. Once that happens, things will fast-track including production and casting. The series has yet to get the greenlight from the studio but all involved including from people I hear that will happen sooner rather than later.

The series will follow the storyline of the five-book series starting with The Lightning Thief which centers on a teenager who discovers he’s the descendant of a Greek god and sets out on an adventure to settle an ongoing battle between the gods. The series will then tackle each new book for every season if Disney+ greenlights more seasons that is. It will be produced by Fox 21 TV Studios.

Released in 2010 and directed by Chris Columbus (Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone), Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lighting Thief starred Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, and Brandon T. Jackson and followed A teenager discovers he’s the descendant of a Greek god and sets out on an adventure to settle an on-going battle between the gods. The film grossed over $225M on a $95M budget. In 2013, the sequel Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters sadly lost the studio money grossing under $200M on a $90M budget, plans of continuing the series – which was planned, were sadly canceled.

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