Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Mini TV Series Review) (2024)

As I’ve mentioned quite a few times at this point, I’ve gotten very deeply back into Percy Jackson lately. This show is the reason why. There aren’t many things that bring me more joy than a well-done, faithful adaptation of a favorite book series. I’m also increasingly enjoying shows that release week-to-week. I like binging shows as much as anyone, but the weekly release schedule extends my enthusiasm and lets me have an all-encompassing obsession that lasts more than a couple of evenings. Instead of racing through Percy Jackson and the Olympians in a matter of days, I got to enjoy it over a longer period, building anticipation and looking forward to what was coming. It also inspired me to revisit the books, which I haven’t done in years and that has been very nostalgically joyful. I also particularly enjoyed watching with my parents, whose PJO knowledge is limited enough that they are almost—but not quite—fresh fans. My mom read the books with me the first time, but doesn’t remember any specifics, and my dad has only ever seen the movies. It was kind of funny to watch them watch it, because they thought they knew what was coming but then were surprised in the moments when the book/show and movie diverged (my dad, who advocated for attacking Hades immediately upon entry into the Underworld, would not have survived to save Olympus).

And yes, we’ve watched those movies multiple times over the years. I have never hated them the way that many PJO fans (and even Rick Riordan) seem to. They do make a few mind-boggling decisions (Kronos eating Luke and Grover comes to mind, as does flattening Annabeth into a one-dimensional love interest), but they don’t take themselves too seriously and are silly fun. Even the haters have to admit that the Lotus Casino is a blast, and it’s hard to find fault with Stanley Tucci as Mr. D.

I’ve also listened to the Lightning Thief Broadway cast recording. I’ve never seen the show itself, but I’ve heard good things. It admittedly took me a long time to get into it despite being one of the biggest joint Percy Jackson/musical theatre fans imaginable: I have more than thirty hours of Broadway cast recordings on my phone, and since January I’ve (re)read sixteen PJO books. The musical takes some goodwill to get into, but is catchy once you get into it. The first song, “Prologue” is pretty painful and while there are some bops later on, you have to wade through the first couple of lines to get there (unsurprisingly, George Salazar sings most of the best songs, both as Dionysus and as Grover).

This new TV show—which streams on Disney+—is the best of the bunch adaptation-wise. It is very faithful to the original novels while feeling updated and current.

To a fan of the books, this show is particularly delightful because it holds tightly to the plot as originally written—which doesn’t seem like a high bar for an adaptation, but somehow often is—but also makes minor adjustments that open it up thematically as well as making it feel more current. Some of my favorite parts of the book didn’t make the movie adaptation, and seeing them reinstated made me very happy. The Ares meetup and sidequest is one of my favorite sections of The Lightning Thief and was unquestionably my favorite episode of the show. The longer runtime lets the relationships shine through more, particularly the friendship between Percy and Grover, the bond between Luke and both Percy and Annabeth, and the deep love between Percy and his mom (though for what it’s worth it was somewhat traumatizing to realize that I am now closer in age to Sally than Percy).

Most of the changes bring the beginning of the series closer to the end; Percy Jackson matures across its five books, and this new adaptation lets elements of the end bleed in. Most notably, Percy’s eventual dislike of the gods is seeded from the very start, and Luke’s backstory gets set up long before it is even hinted at in the books. The gods get to appear physically as well. Neither Hermes nor Hephaestus appears in The Lightning Thief, and Poseidon has considerably more material onscreen. This is an effective way of acknowledging that, while this is still very much a series for and about kids, a lot of the biggest fans are adults now. The physical presence of the gods—in addition to making the “and the Olympians” of the title more directly relevant—also lets the show have some adult characters without losing any of the kids-saving-the-day energy. As a big fan of Hamilton, Galavant, and Jane Eyre, I adored the casting of the various Olympians.

Other changes bring the story more into today’s world rather than sticking with the world of 2005. I grew up with these books, but on my recent reread I noticed a few things that, in 2024, stick out as having not aged brilliantly. For the most part, the show gently corrects these. The best example is the handling of Medusa: In 2005, it was fine to present the gorgon as an uncomplicated monster. Today’s post-#metoo fans are more likely to see her story as that of a woman punished after being taken advantage of by a powerful man. The show manages to deftly split the difference: Medusa is still an antagonist to Percy and his friends, but her actions are borne from anger and resentment. She is both victim and villain, the latter only because the gods made her one. This both fits better with The Last Olympian and with the modern world, making it an excellent rewrite. We haven’t seen any daughters of Aphrodite yet, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that they’ll be the next major tweak.

It’s not a textual change, but it’s worth noting that this version of Percy Jackson is not the all-white version of the past. I don’t think there’s a single character who directly matches their physical book description (in the books, Percy has dark hair and green eyes, Chiron’s back half is a white stallion, and Grover has a stringy red goatee), but that doesn’t really matter. The more diverse group of heroes is far more in keeping with the spirit of the series. The Lightning Thief was originally written so that Riordan’s dyslexic son could see a hero like him. Each new batch of heroes introduced encompasses a few more different identities with the very clear message that, yes, heroes can look like you. After the past decade with Leo and Piper and Reyna and Nico and Sam and Carter and Alex and Hazel and Frank it would be downright weird to go right back to a hom*ogenous group. Like every other change in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the diversified cast takes the start of the story and catches it up to what is going on now. And aside from the obvious that everyone clearly nailed their role and were therefore cast well, the physical stereotypes of the past don’t hold as true now as they once did. A typical jock like OG Luke isn’t going to inspire immediate trust these days, so in a way a book-accurate Luke would feel like a miscast. Annabeth doesn’t have to have blonde curly hair to look like a princess (and, as others have pointed out, a Black girl is far more likely to be underestimated for her looks than a white blonde girl). To some degree I understand that people like characters to match their original descriptions, but literally no book adaptation has ever hit the nail directly on the head. Tyrion Lannister was supposed to be so hideous people can barely look at him. Stanley Yelnats is supposed to be fat. Alina Starkov was originally pale and white. Peeta Mellark is supposed to be wide-shouldered and stocky. Alec Lightwood should have been blue-eyed and shorter than Magnus. There’s significantly more to consider than physical descriptions, and at the end of the day everyone imagines the characters differently so there’s no way for everyone to be entirely happy with a cast (except those of us with aphantasia, lol. No actor can be not what you pictured if you never picture anything!)

A lot of other fans have complained about the way that the trio mostly knows what they’re getting into before facing any villains; they’re certainly not taken by surprise nearly as often as in the book. The Lightning Thief is a bit formulaic in that way: Percy, Annabeth, and Grover stumble unknowingly on a monster. They think everything is fine for a minute and then the monster attacks and they fight it off while desperately trying to figure out what it is and how to beat it. One of them—usually but not always Annabeth—remembers the original myth and how do defeat the monster and then one of them—usually but not always Percy—pulls it off. Then they keep on traveling and repeat the pattern. In the show, the kids walk into most situations already knowing what creature they’ll face within, often with a plan already in place. While I would have liked a little more whimsical discovery, it’s a little outlandish that kids who grew up studying Greek monsters wouldn’t recognize Medusa when confronted with her.

See Also

Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson TV Series)

It’s definitely a balance, and I didn’t necessarily love every decision the show made. It’s one thing for Annabeth to figure out that Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium is Medusa’s layer or to be skeptical of The Lotus Hotel and Casino. It’s another to immediately know how to deal with Procrustes. I was OBSESSED with Greek mythology as a child. I drew trading cards. I played Echo on Greek day and dragged a karaoke machine into school with the echo feature ramped up to maximum. I wrote a fantasy series with a ghostly character named Persephone. Even I had never heard of Procrustes before PJO, so I’m pretty confident in saying that the average viewer would not recognize him on sight, particularly considering the nickname. The whole Crusty encounter is, I think, the show’s biggest misstep. It is so abbreviated that neither of my parents understood what exactly had happened or why. We had to pause so I could explain who Crusty was and how it goes down in the book, and even then they said they wished that the time spent there had been used for the Underworld. I don’t disagree; I think Crusty either should have had his full scene or nothing instead of the abridged version. That being said, I do think it’s pretty funny that Julian Richings—aka Charon from the PJO movies—took the role; apparently he’s the exception to the there-must-be-no-connection-between-the-movies-and-the-show thing.

Overall I am very well satisfied with Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I’m very happy (and very unsurprised) that it got renewed for season two. Going forward, I hope that Percy gets to be more impertinent because his constant irreverence is the one important element the show didn’t hit quite hard enough. Still, after a run of TV shows that flubbed their source material or just got unfairly and prematurely cancelled, Percy Jackson has been a bright spot in the television landscape for me. I am already looking forward to season two… and even more to season three!

Show information:

Available on: Disney+ and Hulu

#of seasons/episodes: As of March 15, 2024 there is one season with 8 episodes

Based on the novels by Rick Riordan

Created by Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg

Starring: Walker Scobell (Percy), Leah Jeffries (Annabeth), Aryan Simhadri (Grover), Virginia Kull (Sally), Charlie Bushnell (Luke), Adam Copeland (Ares), Toby Stephens (Poseidon), Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hermes), Lance Reddick (Zeus), Julian Richings (Procrustes), Jessica Parker Kennedy (Medusa), Jay Duplass (Hades), Jason Mantzoukas (Dionysus), Glynn Turman (Chiron), and Dior Goodjohn (Clarisse)

Here’s a collection of my previous reviews of the PJO extended universe:

• briefLightning Thiefreview
• briefSun and the Starreview
• shoutout to the queer inclusion in the later books
• list of great fantasy reads for young and young-at-heart readers
• The Sun and the Staron an annual top ten list