When I was younger, I was a huge book nerd. I spent countless hours reading young adult novels until my eyes were dry and I could no longer see the blurry words on the page. I was a very dedicated reader, and one of the first book series I fell in love with was the Percy Jackson series. Not only does it combine the modern world with Greek mythology, its snarky, sassy narration made the story that much more compelling.
So, when I heard that a new adaption of the series was in the works, I found myself more excited than ever to relive my childhood with the characters I know and love. There was more hype than ever about this series as the author himself, Rick Riordan, had a very distinct helping hand in the creation of the show and even promised that the adaptation would be faithful to the original.
The first episode of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV series was released on Dec. 19, 2023, and the final episode just a few weeks ago on Jan. 30. With the entire first season being out and renewed for a second, I thought I’d tell you guys what I thought of the show as someone who’s been a fan for years and has read the books recently.
- Casting: faithful or functional?
Right from the announcement of the show over four years ago, I knew that casting would be one of the trickiest things for the show to get right. It was the main thing the Percy Jackson movies got wrong — their ages, personalities, and acting skills had to be on point to make up for the loss of the first Percy Jackson series adaptation in 2010 which casted young adults.
In the original book series, Percy Jackson is a twelve year old with severe dyslexia and ADHD who eventually finds his way to the world of Greek gods and monsters with his best friend and satyr, Grover Underwood, and newfound friend Annabeth Chase. The new TV series stays relatively accurate to the ages, casting 15-year-old Walker Scobell as Percy (13 at the time of filming), 17-year-old Aryan Simhadri as Grover, 14-year-old Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth.
I think as we see Hollywood trying to be more inclusive and diversify adaptations, it’s inevitable that there will be some opposition when characters are different or reimagined compared to their book counterparts. While many fans quickly got over Percy being portrayed as blonde with blue eyes, many protested to a young Black woman being casted as Annabeth, a historically blonde white girl.
In my opinion, I don’t mind the changes one bit as long as the characters are well portrayed and have chemistry, which the cast has proven during interviews and throughout little glimpses of the show.
- Plot Changes and Execution: refined or messy?
While the first few episodes of the series stick rather faithfully to the books, I find that I cannot say the same for the rest of the show. There are quite a few changes to how the kids interact with the Greek mythological world once they begin their quest for Zeus’ lighting bolt, and most of the mystery is quickly ruined by heavy exposition and plot changes that I’m not sure had any real consequences or impact.
One of the plot changes that confused me the most was when they made Percy fail the quest. While I thought there would be major impact like the beginning of war (like they implied throughout the show), but instead nothing comes out of it. The war is prevented, Percy comes back to camp a hero, and Luke betrays him. Nothing about the plot change had any real, major consequences other than an extra scene where Poseidon is shown as a caring father.
There are many other changes in the show that I could talk about (don’t even get me started on the Lotus Casino episode), but the main grievances I have with the show lie in their inability to keep consistent pacing. Everything felt either very drawn out and slow, or too rushed and confusing. I was very disappointed with the writing of the show.
- Tone: where is my Percy?
One of the most compelling parts of the books is Percy’s narration. He’s a kid under heavy duress, but he still makes light of situations and has a witty sense of humor. In the show, that quality is lost in favor of a much more serious undertone which confused me greatly.
Walker Scobell is very much capable of such a character as shown in The Adam Project (2022), but the writers seem to refuse to create anything with a sense of fun other than a few scenes here and there. They have seemed to reduce Percy to a typical main character, someone who just lets things happen and completes tasks with very little Percy-esque flair.
Overall, I think this show has amazing potential with the cast it has, but there are major improvements that need to be made with the overall tone, characterization, and pacing.