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This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Spoiler Warning for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.
After a long wait, in celebration of Percy Jackson’s birthday, Disney has finally dropped the release date for the highly anticipated Percy Jackson & the Olympians in a brand new teaser which shows new scenes. The epic series, based on Disney Hyperion’s best selling book series by award winning Rick Riordan will be premiering with two episodes on Wednesday 20th December, followed by new episodes weekly.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians will tell the fantastical story of 12-year old demigod Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell), who’s just coming to terms with his newfound divine powers when the sky god Zeus, accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover (Aryan Simhadri) and Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries), Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus.
Unlike the previous teasers, this teaser showcases a lot more and we can see some recognizable moments from the book here. The teaser is a quick 33 seconds so there’s a lot to catch that might be hard to notice on a first watch. In the very first scene of the teaser we see what seems to be one of the last scenes of the book. Percy Jackson in the lift of the Empire State Building, to return the master lightning bolt.
The Empire State Building in Percy Jackson & the Olympians is where the current location of Olympus resides, on the 600th floor. Then, it cuts to a shot of Ares (Adam Copeland/Edge), who is seen wearing a long black leather coat and wielding a sword on the beach. This scene appears to depict Percy’s confrontation, resembling closely the book’s description. In addition, for a shot cut with the same Volume technology behind other shows like The Mandalorian, which is interesting considering the shot itself.
The third scene in the teaser is of Percy walking into what looks to be an abandoned cabin, which is most likely Poseidon’s cabin. As Percy enters, seaweed hangs from the ceiling and possibly a water fountain in the middle, though it’s hard to make out. Then, a rapid shot captures Camp Half Blood members crossing a bridge, and we subsequently catch our initial view of Medusa (Jessica Parker Kennedy), with her snake hair subtly visible in the shot.
This teaser is full of a lot of first reveals and we get another one not shortly after of Grover, where we get to see what his goat legs look like and from looking at this teaser alone, the visual effects seem to be pretty great but would still need to see them in motion before making a final judgement. Seeing how this shot pans out, this may be the moment that Percy finds out about his friend being a satyr. Now with this next shot, I believe it to be after the bus fight with the furies and them on their way to the emporium but some people on social media believe it to Thalia Grace’s tree.
IS THAT THALIA’S TREE?
Interestingly enough, we get our first change from the books in this teaser. Annabeth engages a monster in combat, and based on its tail and horns, it appears to be a Chimera. Annabeth was never part of this scene in the book so it looks like things are changing around this time. Next, an iconic scene unfolds as the minotaur attacks Sally Jackson (Virginia Kull) and Grover Underwood while traveling to Camp Half Blood in Gabe’s car.
The teaser trailer then ends on a shot of Percy, Grover and Annabeth on the beach which is most likely the same scene from the start where Ares is about to face Percy. Throughout this entire teaser we hear Sally Jackson saying “the stories that I have told you about Greek gods and half-bloods, they are real”. It then ends with what sounds like Zeus, played by the late Lance Reddick, saying, “Percy Jackson. We’ve been expecting you.”
This teaser has only excited me and fans of Percy Jackson more and the show couldn’t come soon enough. It’s a relief to see from this teaser alone that we’re getting a more book accurate adaptation of The Lightning Thief and with the writing for season two already having started, we could easily be seeing season two getting the green light if season one performs well.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians begins streaming on Disney+ on December 20.
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