Disney+ 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians': 'Finally time' for a more loyal book adaptation
Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri talk about adapting the famed book series, impressive stunts and a terrifying Megan Mullally
The best-selling book series, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians," is finally getting a worthy adaptation in a new Disney+ series, starring Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri, Megan Mullally, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jay Duplass, Jason Mantzoukas and the late Lance Reddick.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians release date: Dec. 20 on Disney+
Creators: Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg
Cast: Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri, Megan Mullally, Virginia Kull, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jay Duplass, Jason Mantzoukas, Lance Reddick, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Toby Stephens, Timothy Omundson, Jelena Milinkovic, Adam Copeland
Number of episodes: 8
Watch Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+, with plans starting at $7.99/month
Percy Jackson (Scobell) is a 12-year-old who keeps getting in trouble at school, largely related to seeing creatures that no one else believes are there. This includes Percy pushing his bully into a fountain as he sees Mrs. Dodds (Mullally) transform into a creature with wings, and Percy kills her with a sword.
Of course, the only thing anyone else saw was Percy push another student into the fountain, which his best friend Grover (Simhadri) confessed to a teacher. That results in Percy being sent home to his mom, played by Virginia Kull, and stepdad, played by Timm Sharp.
That's when Percy's mom reveals to her son that his father is a Greek god and Grover is actually a satyr, who needed to get Percy sent home from school to get him to Camp Half-Blood as a demigod in training.
But then Percy is sent off on a specific quest, with Grover and Annabeth (Jeffries), which involves getting a hold of Zeus’ Master Bolt.
'A really accurate, close to the books version of Percy Jackson'
Admittedly, previous on-screen versions of the Percy Jackson story haven't been entirely successful, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, starring Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario and Brandon T. Jackson.
But Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a more engaging, thrilling adventure, and far more loyal to the books, with author Rick Riordan co-creating the series, alongside Jonathan E. Steinberg.
"I'm really excited for everyone to see a really accurate, close to the books version of Percy Jackson," Scobell told Yahoo Canada in Toronto. "I think it's finally time."
Watch Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+, with plans starting at $7.99/month
When it comes to the initial conception of the Percy Jackson novel, it stemmed from Riordan's son struggling with ADHD and dyslexia, who had a love for Greek mythology. That's where Riordan chose to create a story about 12-year-old Percy Jackson, the son of a Greek god, who finds out that his ADHD and dyslexia is a marker of his Olympian blood.
"There's a reason for writing it that's not just, 'Oh might as well dive into this world that not a lot of people have,'" Simhadri said. "I think that's part of why so many people loved it so much when it first came out, was because you can see yourself as Percy Jackson, you can see yourself as Grover and Annabeth, every character is someone who might be reading it."
Scobell added that Riordan is someone who is in a constant state of wanting to learn, which is a great attribute to creating great stories.
"It's one of the things I really admire about Rick, is that he's always learning something," Scobell said. "I think he learns something new every year or two years, or something. While we were filming, he was learning marine biology."
"I think it's really important to continue learning throughout your whole life and I think it's a pretty heartfelt story of how it started. Just knowing that, it makes the show better, it comes from a real place. It's a fantasy world, but it's anchored to real life."
Impressive stunts for 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians'
This Percy Jackson series also has a lot of action and stunts as Percy, Grover and Annabeth head off on their quest.
While we won't spoil anything too specific, there was some fun on harnesses.
"They should be charging people to get to be able to do that, it was so much fun," Simhadri said.
Jeffries and Scobell both really enjoyed an upcoming Tunnel of Love scene.
"Obviously the Tunnel of Love because of how much whiplash I got from it," Jeffries said. "And the water series of that."
"All the underwater scenes, ... I think I did two full days, ... and they built a whole set for it and they actually filled it with water, very hot water, which was nice," Scobell added. "They had an underwater camera, but that was like for half the day, but at the end of shooting the last two days, we did ... just like pure, underwater."
"I had scuba tanks and I had to get my diver's license for it, and those were fun days. Hard, but fun."
Leah Jeffries told me this incredible story about Megan Mullally being absolutely terrifying in #PercyJackson, which premiered today on @DisneyPlusCA #PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians pic.twitter.com/oKl5iymrg6
— Elisabetta (@Elisabetta_B) December 20, 2023
Terrifying Megan Mullally dissing Leah Jeffries' character Annabeth
Other that the core cast of three young actors, someone to watch at the beginning of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is definitely Mullally, who has truly never looked so terrifying, but in a great way.
"When I got to film with her ... it was kind of hilarious because it was just me and her a lot," Jeffries said. "The way she's just dissing me in that one scene, I told her when they said cut, I was like, 'I'm glad that this is a script because if I heard you say this actually, with nobody telling you to say it, ... I would have been crying right now.'"
But the mean ways of her character of course didn't move off-screen. In fact, Mullally also gave Jeffries a pair of earrings while on set together.
