After months of teasing his fans, the author of widely popular Percy Jackson series Rick Riordan finally confirmed that a Percy Jackson on-screen adaptation is in the works at Disney!
Rick Riordan has posted a short video with his wife on Twitter confirming the exciting news: “After a lot of hard work and a lot of support from you guys, Percy Jackson is coming to Disney+.”
Pssst. Hey, demigods . . . pic.twitter.com/7ep4aeyS3I
— Rick Riordan (@rickriordan) May 14, 2020
In a succeeding post, he expressed his excitement even further and assured everyone that he and his wife will be heavily involved in the development of the series. “Rest assured that Becky & I will be involved in person in every aspect of the show. There will be much more news in the future, but for now, we have a lot of work to do! Buckle up, demigods. It’s going to be a fantastic, exciting ride!”
Many fans of the series have been adamant about a re-adaptation of the books after their disappointment with the movies released in 2010 and 2013. Riordan himself has been very vocal about his frustrations with the movie adaptation of his book and its development, even going as far as posting screenshots of his email correspondence with the movie’s creators on his website.
News about a new Percy Jackson adaptation first surfaced in December 2019 when the hashtag #DisneyAdaptPercyJackson trended on Twitter. Rick Riordan acknowledged the trend and revealed that he was in Los Angeles meeting with Disney executives.
Thank you, guys, for getting this trending with no prompting. I have nothing to announce on this front yet, but I am in LA right now, trying hard to convince the powers-that-be that this needs to happen for you, the fans. Your enthusiasm online helps! #DisneyAdaptPercyJackson
— Rick Riordan (@rickriordan) December 11, 2019
The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series chronicles the adventures of 12-year old misfit Percy Jackson, who finds out that he is a demigod – half-human, half god – and is whisked away to Camp Half-blood where others like him train and hone their abilities. Riordan also released two more series, the Heroes of Olympus series and the Trials of Apollo series, after the original ended. Both are still set in the same world with characters from the original appearing in both.
Following his success with his various mythology-based adventure series, many have asked him to write about other mythologies as well. Instead, he decided to champion other writers who want to write original stories about mythologies from their own cultures through the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, a small branch of the Disney-Hyperion Publishing group. “Over the years, I’ve gotten many questions from my fans about whether I might write about various world mythologies, but in most cases, I knew I wasn’t the best person to write those books. Much better, I thought, to use my experience and my platform at Disney to put the spotlight on other great writers who are actually from those cultures and know the mythologies better than I do.”
So far, he has the development and publication of middle-grade books based on Korean, South African, Hindu, Mayan, Cuban, West African, Mexican, and Mesopotamian folklore and mythologies.
Featured photo from Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.