The highly anticipated Disney+ adaptation of Rick Riordan’s bestselling fantasy series, Percy Jackson and The Olympians is not likely to hit our screens before 2024, according to the author.
The first season of Percy Jackson and The Olympians is set to cover the first book in Riordan’s series, ‘The Lightning Thief’. It follows the story of Percy Jackson (played by The Adam Project’s Walker Scobell) a 12-year-old who, following the discovery that he is a demigod, is accused of stealing Zeus’ lightning bolt and has to go on a dangerous quest to find it, with the help of his friends Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood (played by Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri, respectively).
Riordan, who also acts as executive producer on the series and co-wrote the pilot, shared the update on filming on his blog, following a visit to the show’s set. He wrote: “We are on track with our schedule, and everything is going according to plan, though we still have a long way to go before the series is ready.” Riordan noted that principal photography had been largely finished on the first two episodes, but much more needed to be completed before the show resembled the finished product we will see on screen.
Riordan offered the update following speculation on social media regarding the series’ release date. He explained: “It’s probably going to take us through December or into January to film all the episodes of season one. That means post-production will begin in early 2023.”
Given that post-production is a lengthy process that will take many months and include extensive special effects, Riordan noted: “I think the most likely air-date will probably be early 2024.”
He also added that this was just a guess, and that; “the actual release dates are determined by the studio and the streaming service, and have to take in hundreds of other factors, like the release schedule for all Disney+ shows, timing for publicity etc.”.
Riordan, however, firmly believes that the show will be worth the long wait. He stated: “I’ve been waiting over 15 years for a proper adaptation, so I think we can wait a little longer if it means getting the quality show we will be proud of.”
Words By Jo Elliott
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