Disney+'s TV adaptation of the young adult fantasy series Percy Jackson and the Olympians will begin filming on June 1, original author Rick Riordan has confirmed. The best-selling series follows the adventures of the aforementioned Percy Jackson, a teenager who discovers that he is the son of the ancient Greek God Poseidon, as he embarks on a mission to prevent the mythical Titans from wreaking havoc across 21st Century Earth. While the novels have proved to be immensely popular, becoming one of the most successful book series of all time, the two film adaptations of the titular demigod's quest failed to enjoy the same level of critical acclaim, with even Riordan publicly criticising the writing on the two movies.
Disney's television reboot of the series was confirmed in early 2020, with series one focusing primarily as an adaptation of the first novel The Lightning Thief. The show will also follow in the footsteps of Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events in that it will be co-written by the author himself, providing another layer of faithfulness and accuracy to the adaptation. Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz are onboard as showrunners of the series with The Muppets director James Bobin directing the pilot episode and Oscar-winner Dan Hennah acting as production designer. Although the series is yet to find its Percy Jackson, Riordan has reassured fans that casting is well-underway with chemistry reads currently taking place.
Now, Riordan has provided further clarification on how the series is developing and has even confirmed when it is set to start shooting. Speaking on his personal website, Riordan discusses his recent trip to LA and Vancouver with his wife Becky and details how far production has moved forward on Percy Jackson and the Olympians, before closing with "we'll be seeing [Vancouver] again soon. We are due to start filming on June 1, assuming all goes as planned". Check out Riordan's full comment below:
After a wonderful dinner with James Bobin and Dan and Chris Hennah, Becky and I flew back to Boston. Goodbye, for now, Vancouver, but we’ll be seeing you again soon. We are due to start filming on June 1, assuming all goes as planned, and Becky and I will be there from day one!
Riordan has provided several Percy Jackson updates, and this provisional start-date for filming suggests that most of pre-production on the show has now either been completed or is very close to it. However, his caveat that filming will start on June 1 "assuming all goes as planned" is almost certainly a reference to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has stalled production on countless films and television series over the last two years. But even if all does hopefully go as planned, this date does suggest that it may be more likely that the show will premiere on Disney+ in 2023 rather than in late 2022, depending on how long filming takes.
For those eagerly anticipating Disney's streaming revival of the Percy Jackson series, this announcement that filming will commence on June 1 will be very welcome news, and may well lead to speculation as to when they will get to see the first episode based on this start-date. As well as this, Riordan's enthusiastic assurance that "Becky and I will be there from day one!" will also no doubt come as comforting, especially given that many feel that the disappointment of the Percy Jackson films was largely due to the author being kept out of most of the filming process. But even though it may still be a while yet before Percy Jackson and the Olympians premieres on Disney+, viewers now at least have a date for when they can start to expect some exciting behind-the-scenes snapshots.
Source: Rick Riordan