By Emily-Rose Toohey and Dominique Tassell
Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series is finally getting the screen adaptation it deserves.
The modern-day adventure is set in a world where Greek Gods and their mythology are real, and the children of said gods must face the dangers of being half-bloods.
After two failed movies made in 2010 and 2013 respectively, Percy Jackson is coming to our screens on Disney+ as an eight episode per season television show.
With filming starting this month, we’re breaking down how we’d like to see the Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief book adapted.
Characters and casting
At this exact moment, the three core characters have been cast: Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson, Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth Chase, and Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood.
These actors are relatively unknown and as a result, this show has the potential to launch the trio into superstardom.
With the author himself having a hand in this casting, fans are confident in the young actors who seem like they’ll fit the characters perfectly.
However, while most people are content, there’s been racist hate directed at Leah and Aryan, simply because they do not match the book’s physical descriptions.
Annabeth is described as a blonde, white girl in the books, whereas the actress cast is African American.
So what?
As long as she embodies the character, there is absolutely no issue with this casting and all of the racist, hurtful people on the internet bullying a 12-year-old need to stop.
As for future casting, the internet is crying out for Logan Lerman to be cast as Poseidon.
While there were many problems with the movies, Logan Lerman was not one of them.
He might have been too old, yes, but he was a perfect Percy otherwise.
Casting him as Percy’s dad would be a fun call-back, but he’s also a great fit for the part.
Logan’s said he’s down, and the internet is literally begging, so fingers crossed for that to happen.
Throughout the novels, Aphrodite in particular presents herself in different forms depending on what the person she’s speaking to finds beautiful.
This would be a really fun way to include cameos from bigger actors in the show, and also a way to inject a bit of diversity into the cast.
Moments
Much like the iconic scene from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone that revealed Hogwarts, the Percy Jackson series should have an epic moment where the camera pans across Camp Half-Blood.
The book’s rich world-building gives the show lots of room to get creative, so the locations will be important and a must to adapt, including the juxtaposition between Mount Olympus and the Underworld.
Also, they need to include Annabeth’s first words to Percy after the Minotaur attack: ‘you drool when you sleep’.
It marks the start of a great friendship and eventual romantic relationship between the two.
Ensuring that fan favourite, iconic lines from the novels are included is a necessity.
While not a single moment on its own, something that will be important in multiple moments is just how young Percy and the other characters are.
This will be emphasised on its own with the confirmed casting of Walker as Percy.
Scenes such as the fight between Percy and a certain god in book one will be much more harrowing to watch with an age-accurate casting.
These moments need to be included, as what these characters are put through at such a young age is pretty crucial to the plot.
Dynamics
Character relationships within the novels are crucial to the story, particularly that of Luke and Annabeth.
The two have known each other for years and their bond needs to be explored further in the series.
Similarly, the relationship between Luke and Percy should be shown more on screen.
The dynamics between these three characters create a lot of tension and are an ongoing conflict throughout the series.
It’s difficult to watch unfold, particularly for those who are avid shippers of Percabeth, the Annabeth-Percy relationship.
Therefore, it’s imperative that the show accurately adapts this and gets it right in season one by laying a solid foundation.
Another important dynamic the show needs to get right is the dynamic between the gods and their kids.
The dynamics between certain demigods and their parents are pretty crucial to the plot, but also provide important weight to certain scenes and events.
What book to film adaptions often get wrong is the little things; small details that seem unimportant in the moment but mean more later on.
Even if it’s just mentioning the shared features of certain children, small details can add up to mean much more later on when looking at the plot overall of the series so needs to be included.
Percy’s relationship with his mum, Sally, is also incredibly important in the novels.
Unlike most YA books, Sally isn’t written out of the books for the sake of the plot.
Her relationship with Percy, and the distance between them, is incredibly important and greatly informs Percy’s actions.
Changes from books
The series is a great opportunity to have a diverse cast, which should necessitate a concept only loosely explored in the final novel: the god’s not having DNA.
If you think too hard about Greek Mythology, it’s very gross to realise that everyone is essentially related.
It’s very incestuous, a fact that did not compute when first reading the books as a 12-year-old.
Therefore, the show should establish early on that the half-bloods aren’t actually related to each other on the god side of the family.
This also means that people from all ethnic groups can be represented on screen in an otherwise predominately white person novel.
While the casting so far has made some great moves on diversity, the writing itself could also prioritise this.
While Riordan focussed later in the novels on incorporating more diverse characters, the initial first books are not only pretty white but pretty male.
Some great female characters are introduced later in the series, and there is definitely an opportunity for some of these characters to show up earlier.
Some of the campers introduced later, like Silena Beauregard, could definitely make an appearance earlier without it being a major change.
Other characters that do appear earlier, like Clarisse La Rue, do appear in the first novel but could maybe be slightly revised now that the times have changed.
Many of the myths Riordan included in the novels are arguably somewhat sexist takes.
Characters like Medusa have come to be seen through a different lens in recent years, and if it doesn’t impact the plot too much I think this would be a positive change for young girls watching the show.
