Rick Riordan’s beloved books are finally getting a worthy adaptation.
The stars, creators, and producers tell EW how they went about it.
Percy Jackson is exhausted.
Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri on ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’.Disney/David Bukach
The 12-year-old demigod has spent all day trying to save the world from… a lack of chemistry.
That means chemistry reads with every possible combination of costars.
He was very clearly exhausted.
Walker Scobell on ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’.Disney/David Bukach
There were multiple Grovers at the chemistry read.
And Walker was just like, That wasnt it?
I felt so bad.
Adam Copeland, Aryan Simhadri, and Walker Scobell on ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’.Disney/David Bukach
I mean, obviously it was a lot of fun, he assures us.
I got to hang out with Rick the whole day!
ButPercy Jackson and the Olympianswas the first and best.
Leah Sava Jefffries and Walker Scobell on ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’.Disney/David Bukach
And, much like Taylor Swift, its appeal to young fans has only grown over time.
It gives us the time to tell the story properly in an episodic manner, which fits the books.
We were very lucky to get a team that agreed with that approach.
Black actress Leah Jeffries was ultimately cast as Annabeth, even though the character was originally white and blonde.
But inclusion has always been a source of strength inPercy Jackson and the Olympians.
In my book, Medusa was pretty much a standard villain.
She just comes and goes, and you dont really get into it too much, Riordan says.
So it was really fun to work on episode 3 with Jessica.
Luckily, to Riordan and the producers, ScobellisPercy.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s incredibly talented.
I’m sure he was born for a lot of roles!
But he really is perfect for this.
He has that voice down so well, and he embodies who Percy is.
A major element of that is age.
And I just went, Brilliant!
Because the eyes of a 12-year-old are very different from the eyes of an older kid.
Whatever you see in the show, you’ll see it through Percy’s eyes, Bobin says.
I love the feeling in that Minotaur sequence because it’s very immersive.
You’re trapped in that small space.
Here, again, age matters.
The god stuff is important, but really it’s about a boy saving his mom, Bobin says.
Sally is important not just to Percy, but to his creator as well.
The Riordans are much more involved in the show than they were in the movies.
And so I had to say, Hey, this is not the story.
Percy is doing this for his mom.
His father needs to earn Percy’s respect because he hasn’t been there for him.'
Co-showrunner Dan Shotz adds, No one wants to invite Ares to Thanksgiving.
In their quest to rescue Sally, Percy and his friends encounter some of the legendary gods.
But in my version of it, it’ll never happen because I’m not his son.
The young actors impressed all of their adult collaborators with their willingness to put in the effort.
They were physical and emotional, Shotz says.
Wed go from one thing to the next.
Which brings us to the epic Capture the Flag sequence.
That day it was so hot and I had all that dark armor on me.
I was dying, Jeffries recalls.
And then on top of that, a spider actually crawled up inside of my armor.
It literally looked like a poisonous spider.
It was big and black.
I was about to cry.
That was really bad.
My son’s birthday was on the day we were shooting, Bobin says.
The props guy said to me, You know what?
I’ve never seen him so happy.
Somebody clear Walker Scobells schedule!
