Everything We Need in a Percy Jackson TV Show ⚡️ 📺

It’s no secret that the Percy Jackson fandom is very upset about the monstrosity that is the Percy Jackson film series. But what could possibly quench our thirst?

Thanks to the recent news of Disney purchasing FOX, the company who owns the right to the utterly horrible Percy Jackson film franchise, many fans have gained a new glimmer of hope in their eyes.

Previously, some fans had speculated that Percy Jackson himself was technically a Disney Prince, since his books were under the Disney Hyperion book imprint. Sadly, Rick Riordan has pointed out that this was not enough for Disney Animations to hold the rights to make a Disney movie or show, but now… things are looking up.

And so, with the now very real possibility of a Percy Jackson TV show, I bring to you all of the things we need that (not real, but very possible) show to include for us.

*I apologize in advance for using GIFs from the movies, but it’s all I had to work with! Please bear with me.

**And I would also like to apologize to those of you who enjoyed the movies. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying something, and I’m glad you liked them! I don’t mean any offense. 🙂

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One book = one season.

I think we can all agree on this one. This is why we want it to be a show, right? If each book has its own season, that leaves plenty of time for all of the little details we never got when Logan Lerman was center stage. 

However, we would also have to be realistic about this. If there were a Percy Jackson show, and one season per book, I believe there would only be time for Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Which means Heroes of Olympus and everything beyond that series would have to be left out of the production, since most shows only run for an average of 5 seasons anyway, and honestly? I’m totally okay with that. 

Actual child actors, so the plot can be everything it originally was.

I always say that using older actors ruins part of the story, but this is most relevant in the the Percy Jackson series.

My biggest problem relating to this was the fact that in the movie, Percy and his friends could drive. They just drove themselves across the United States like it was nothing! In the books, however… it took them days to find different modes of transportation. They were forced to hitch-hike and beg Ares for help. There were no cars to aid their journey.

Other than the driving problem, there’s also the issue that comes with casting a group of people in their late-teens and early-twenties: they’ll just keep getting older.

If the cast members are around ages 12-14, rather than 22-26, at least they’ll still be children while the show airs, and the show will look so much more accurate to the books. 

We have talented child actors. So find them, and cast them in this wonderful, fictional show, please. That’s all I’m asking for.

Percy’s relationships with Sally, Grover, and pretty much everyone else.

I am a sucker for great character building. If I don’t care about a character or that character’s motives, then I probably won’t like the overall story. I think this was one of the reasons why the movies never worked for me.

Percy is very close with his mother, Sally Jackson, and the books showed a lot about his life with her and her husband, Gabe, which later became important to the story. In the movies, however, there was not much to go on. I don’t think I liked his mother in the movies, if they even showed her enough.

Also, Grover is Percy’s best friend in the books. Simply including Grover as a character is not enough to portray this. We would need to see them working together, having conversations, making jokes, and maybe some banter. TV shows allow for this kind of friendship building, and I will rest until we get the Grover we deserve.

The same thing goes for other characters, as well. Percy has unique relationships with everyone, and if we don’t see that develop and grow over the course of a TV series, then what’s the point?

Equal parts characterization, humor, and special effects.

Let’s face it. Most of the time, whenever films studios make a movie (as in, any movie), most of the time, they’ll choose special effects and CGI over good storytelling.

But the Percy Jackson book series is about so much more than action scenes. It’s also about friendship, family, and personal growth.

Of course, the TV show would still need to give us special effects and CGI (unless all of those monsters are actually real and available for a TV shoot?), but we would need to see plenty character growth and lots of Percy’s iconic sass as well.

Please. Give us Nico and Bianca.

Dear TV show gods, (Apollo, I know you’re out there),

Please let the show last long enough to give us Season 3, so that we can finally see Nico and Bianca in action.

I want both of them to get screen time, lines, and characterization. I want them to be part of the story, as they were supposed to. I want to see them, and love them.

A diverse cast.

Okay, yes, the original book series did not include as many diverse characters as Trials of Apollo or even Magnus Chase. But we need to at least see some diversity.

For example, Nico and Bianca are Italian. I know it doesn’t really count but wouldn’t it be nice to see, I don’t know, Italian actors playing their characters? And wouldn’t it be even better if some diversity was added to the main cast? And the campers have to be at least a little diverse, right?

Come on, guys. It’s 2019. Just give me a diverse cast.

No plot holes, please!
Take the canon and use it. 

For some reason, every film studio struggles so much with this. They absolutely love to make up their own rules about stories they didn’t create (and sometimes, in the case of the Lightning Thief director, didn’t even read about). However, this usually ruins the plot in the process.

The show would have to stick to the canon. I mean, how hard is it, really? Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events did an amazing job adapting the 13 books into 3 seasons without messing up the plot, so why should the Percy Jackson TV show be any different?

Explanation of the gods and the Greek Myths behind them. 

When I read these books for the first time, I used a Kindle e-reader to read the whole series. And I’m so glad that I did, because I would have been lost otherwise.

I used the e-reader to search the internet for information about the gods and creatures which were mentioned throughout the books. By doing this, I learned about the original Greek Myths, and I wasn’t just stuck with vague knowledge that Rick Riordan added to the series. (Like the fact that Poseidon likes to wear Bermuda shorts or whatever.)

I would want the TV series to include Percy’s journey through learning about Greek Mythology. Just as Percy is learning about this new world of gods and monsters, the reader/viewer is also learning about this world “for the first time” (although, to be honest, most of the viewers will probably just be long-time fans). It would be nice if, at least for the new kids who have no prior experience with Percy Jackson, there was some kind of educational value to this show.

Elements of fun, friendship, and the idea that everyone can be a hero. 

I would like to take this time to promote The Lightning Thief: The Musical! 

This is a musical which gets (almost) everything right. It has Rick Riordan’s approval and everything! It originated Off-Broadway in 2017, and is currently on its US Tour. (I was supposed to see it last month, but they rescheduled my tickets for July…) Anyways, you can now listen to the cast recording of the musical! The music is great, and is totally Percy-esque! I also may have cried when I heard it the first few times, but whatever. Just go listen to it.

From what I’ve heard, the musical is fun and captures the spirit of the books. I haven’t seen any negative reviews, and fans who watch it seem to enjoy it a lot.

A Percy Jackson TV series would have to keep the same tone as the books. Fun, entertaining, and enjoyable for people of all kinds. 

This book series is also important to us, as young readers, because it showed us that we could all become heroes. No matter who we are, or where we come from, we matter. We have talents, and we are special. Essentially, this is what the books convey to its audience, and the show would absolutely have to include that as well.

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this long post about all of my hopes and dreams.

Tell me. What would you want from a Percy Jackson TV show? How would it be different from the movies?
Chat with me about it!

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You can also be my friend on Goodreads! 📚

Happy reading, everyone! 🙂