Percy Jackson and the Olympians followers, the wait is over. A worthy adaptation of Rick Riordan’s beloved novels is lastly hitting TV, and I, for one, couldn’t be giddier to relive my childhood.
As is the case with all book-to-screen variations, Percy Jackson and the Olympians deviates sometimes from the supply materials. Nonetheless, the principle arc of the sequence stays the identical: 12-year-old Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell) learns that he is a demigod, the son of a human lady and a Greek god. Not lengthy after this discovery, he undertakes a cross-country quest to get better Zeus’ stolen Grasp Bolt and cease a battle of mythic proportions. Accompanying him are Annabeth Chase (Leah Sava Jeffries), a daughter of Athena, and Grover Underwood (Aryan Simhadri), Percy’s satyr protector.
This story will sound acquainted to ebook followers, however the present does make a number of adjustments alongside the best way, including new story beats, omitting others, and specializing in different characters past Percy’s narrative viewpoint. So what are a few of the greatest adjustments the present makes? Do they work? And if that’s the case, what do they add to the present? Let’s dive in. (However take heed: From right here on out, spoilers for the present and the novels are in full impact.)
Episode one: The Mrs. Dodds struggle (and aftermath) look a little bit totally different.
Season 1 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians tackles Riordan’s The Lightning Thief, which means it kicks off, just like the ebook, with Percy’s fateful discipline journey to the Met. Within the novel, math trainer Mrs. Dodds (Megan Mullally) lures Percy into the museum alone. She reveals herself to be a Fury and makes an attempt to kill him. Fortunately, Latin trainer Mr. Brunner (Glynn Turman) — later revealed to be the centaur Chiron — tosses Percy a ballpoint pen-turned-sword, and he is capable of slay Mrs. Dodds.
The present takes a distinct method, shifting the struggle to the entrance steps of the Met and eradicating Mr. Brunner’s involvement. As a substitute, Mrs. Dodds lands on high of Percy and almost finishes him off. It is solely by a stroke of luck that Percy survives, as his pen (given to him earlier) turns into his sword Riptide and impales Mrs. Dodds with out Percy realizing it.
On the one hand, this variation threw me for a loop, because the scene performs out extraordinarily shortly and robs Percy of his first large monster slaying second. If something, Dodds’ dying right here reads extra like an accident! Nonetheless, the fast-paced, confused framing of the incident locations us deeper in Percy’s horrified mindset. His math trainer is making an attempt to kill him — in fact he’d be freaking out and never be fully conscious of what is going on on. His much less coordinated assault right here additionally contrasts properly together with his slaying of the Minotaur on the finish of episode one. Armed with extra information about who he’s, Percy is ready to take down one other fierce beast with extra management this time. It is his first basic hero second, one thing the present has constructed to from his preliminary flailing protection in opposition to Mrs. Dodds.
The fallout from Mrs. Dodds’ assault performs out a little bit in another way within the present as nicely. Percy is expelled from Yancy Academy as a result of he supposedly pushed bully Nancy Bobofit (Olivea Morton) into the Met fountain — a narrative Grover corroborates though he is supposedly Percy’s greatest buddy! Whereas this may occasionally appear to be a betrayal at first, it was really Grover enjoying the a part of protector to a tee. Figuring out that monsters will discover Percy at Yancy, Grover realizes he has to get him away from the college as shortly as potential. We get hints of this motivation within the ebook, particularly when Percy eavesdrops on a cryptic dialog between Mr. Brunner and Grover. But Grover’s alternative within the present is a concrete instance of him doing every part he can to maintain Percy alive — even when it means he could lose his friendship. The seeming betrayal additionally isolates Percy additional, bringing him to a good decrease emotional level by the point he learns the reality about who he’s.
Episode one: Sally Jackson has a much bigger half to play.
Talking of the reality about who Percy is, let’s get into how he finds out the reality within the present versus the books. The Lightning Thief sees Percy getting a crash course in very actual world of Greek fable from his mom, Sally (Virginia Kull), and Grover on the journey to Camp Half-Blood. At camp, Chiron, Annabeth, and Luke (Charlie Bushnell) train him much more, together with telling him outright that he is a half-blood.
Nonetheless, within the present, loads of these revelations fall to Sally. She’s the one who tells Percy he is a demigod, hoping to console him about why he is at all times felt totally different from everybody else. We additionally see how she’s been coaching Percy for his birthright his complete life. One candy flashback scene options her telling Percy why she named him after Perseus. It isn’t simply because Perseus was a hero, however due to the bond he and his mom shared whereas forged adrift at sea. Later, we additionally perceive simply how far Sally will go to get Percy to security. When the Minotaur assaults, Sally takes a extra lively position in maintaining it away from her son, together with distracting it with Percy’s purple jacket, matador-style.
None of that is to say that Sally does not get loads to do within the books: Proper from the beginning, we see that she’s a fiercely devoted, loving mom. She listens to Percy’s worries about being expelled from Yancy and even provides him recommendations on tips on how to survive the Minotaur assault. We simply get much less time along with her is all. In Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ first episode (which was co-written by Riordan), that point is expanded upon considerably. By giving Sally extra of a say in telling Percy about who he’s, the present additionally helps construct their emotional connection, which in flip informs Percy’s determination to go on his quest within the first place.
Episode two: The hellhound goes lacking.

The principle set piece of Percy Jackson and the Olympians‘ second episode is a camp-wide recreation of Seize the Flag. The sport performs out the identical approach it does within the books, with Annabeth utilizing Percy as bait to distract the rival workforce captain — and daughter of Ares — Clarisse La Rue (Dior Goodjohn). Her plan leads to victory, and here is the place the present and the ebook diverge. Within the ebook, the Seize the Flag win is shortly overshadowed by the looks of a bloodthirsty hellhound, whose try to kill Percy is fortunately unsuccessful.
The hellhound scene is all of a web page and a half lengthy, so maybe that is why it merely does not seem within the present. In any case, Percy Jackson and the Olympians requires the creation of a number of difficult on-screen beasts. If you are going to minimize one to avoid wasting the brunt of visible results for different creatures, this could be the one to decide on. Nonetheless, the hellhound’s arrival marks an essential change for the ambiance at Camp Half-Blood. A hellhound on camp grounds is a sign that one thing could be very improper. Solely a traitor within the campers’ midst may have summoned the beast, stoking an environment of paranoia that culminates in Percy accepting the hunt to get better Zeus’ Grasp Bolt. With out the hellhound, we sadly get much less of a way of that paranoia, or a lot of a touch at a sure traitor.
The absence of the hellhound additionally adjustments the sequence the place Poseidon claims Percy as his son. After struggling extreme wounds from the assault, Percy goes into a close-by creek on Annabeth’s orders. Identical to together with his Seize the Flag accidents, his hellhound wounds heal magically because of the water. Poseidon chooses this second to disclose himself as Percy’s father.
With the hellhound lacking from the present, we solely see the water’s therapeutic properties working post-Seize the Flag. However between that occasion and Percy’s magical management over water in his toilet struggle with Clarisse, Annabeth has gathered sufficient proof to understand who Percy’s father is. Smart lady, that one! To show her level, she shoves him again into the water, and we get the present’s rendition of the Poseidon-claiming scene. Actually, I like the shove — it is so deeply in step with the mildly contentious begin to Percy and Annabeth’s dynamic, in addition to a reminder of simply how younger these youngsters are.
The one a part of this scene that disappoints me is the Poseidon reveal. After the triton seems over Percy’s head, we get a disembodied Chiron voiceover telling us what meaning. Nonetheless, we do not get to see his or the campers’ reactions within the second. And on condition that Percy is a forbidden youngster of one of many Huge Three gods — Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades — their reactions ought to be large! For instance, the ebook sees campers kneeling (some, like the kids of Ares, do it reluctantly). I want the present may have included one thing like that with a view to allow us to sit on this second extra and perceive the momentous penalties of Percy’s parentage.
Episode two: Grover learns about Sally Jackson’s destiny from the Council of Cloven Elders.

A completely new subplot in episode 2 entails Grover talking to the Council of Cloven Hooves, a bunch made up of satyrs. He learns from them that Sally is just not really lifeless, a truth neither Chiron nor camp director Dionysus (Jason Mantzoukas) need Grover to inform Percy. Nonetheless, Grover does so anyway, as Percy is his buddy and deserves to know the reality about his mom. Figuring out that Sally is alive and might be introduced again from the Underworld motivates Percy to take the hunt to get the Grasp Bolt again from Hades, lending an additional layer of drive to his epic journey.
Within the ebook, Percy does not know his mother is not absolutely lifeless. In reality, we do not study that ourselves till (spoiler alert!) our valiant crew reaches the Underworld. There, Hades reveals he took Sally hostage proper earlier than she died with a view to achieve some leverage over Percy. You’ll be able to wager we’ll get that confrontation within the present farther down the road, however for now, we all know that Percy did not simply settle for his quest with a view to achieve glory or save the world. He accepted it to avoid wasting Sally, whose relationship with Percy is the emotional core to Percy Jackson and the Olympians‘ two-episode premiere, even when she’s not on-screen.
This story will probably be up to date weekly as every new episode drops.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes weekly.