Percy Jackson: An Update from the Set

Rick Riordan is back in Vancouver and gave an update on the progress of the upcoming Disney+ series.

Like clockwork, Rick Riordan will update when I am up to my ears in, well, life. That’s good news for Percy Jackson fans because I will be pretty busy as we head into fall! More good news, this time from the set of the show: Riordan says that filming has made good progress.

In his latest blog post, Riordan wrote:

How much Percy content have we covered? Put it this way: If you were following along in the book, we have pretty much filmed through chapter nine in The Lightning Thief. That’s a big chunk of the story, but there is a massive amount of fun and games still to come!

Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians

But that wasn’t it.

Rick had saved up a nice chunk of news to deliver. Not headline news, mind you, but a good solid update.

“[Y}es, the filming has followed the book story very closely, almost as if the author were involved himself! Sure, there are small tweaks and changes here and there, which were mutually agreed upon, but the biggest difference is the ‘value added.’ You will get peeks at character backstory, foreshadowing Easter eggs of things to come, and nuances in Percy’s family history that I think you will love,” explained Riordan. “The neat thing about revisiting this tale, almost twenty years after I first wrote it, is that I get to address some of the questions that fans have asked me over the years: ‘What does this mean?’ ‘Why does this happen the way it does?’ ‘What would happen if —?’ It’s been really satisfying and fun.”

Riordan also addressed some other things, too. Namely, the cast.

It’s been a bit since we posted about the casting. And it’s been a minute since Riordan posted in defense of the cast.

This time, Riordan gushed about the triumvirate: Walker Scobell (Percy), Leah Jeffries (Annabeth), and Aryan Simhadri (Grover).

“As I predicted, our main trio is so incredible that it’s now very difficult for me to imagine Percy, Annabeth and Grover without seeing Walker, Leah and Aryan,” wrote Rick. “They are owning these characters in the best possible way. You will see what I mean when you watch the show. If you were a doubter, you will doubt no longer. But for now, you’ll have to take my word for it….”

You. know, I think I will take the word of the author.

And you should, too. Read his entire post here.