Percy Jackson and the Olympians has opened to largely positive reviews from critics and audience. The Disney+ Hostar series is an adaptation of Rick Riordan’s novels. Now, this is not the first time that the books have been adapted. Fans of the novels would recall that Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and (2010) and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) were made and opened to mixed reviews. In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha about the series, producers Jonathan Steinberg and Dan Shotz opened up about the past Percy Jackson projects and the comparisons the series could likely draw.
Jonathan Steinberg said that although there were the old adaptations, they titles and the audience reception to them did not impact Percy Jackson and the Olympians. “It didn’t affect the process much. I think those movies, they are what they are. They were made by an entirely different team of people, in a different format and in a different time and I think what was exciting about this project was to be able to start with the source material itself and start with this book that has had such a magical connection to so many people. That’s a rare thing,” he said.
The production of the series began in June 2022 and was completed in almost one and a half years. Given the large scale of production, such projects tend to come with their share of hurdles. Ask the duo if they faced any challenge during the production, Dan Shotz hinted that the excitement of rolling out the series foreshadowed the challenges. “The VFX, the scope and scale of such a project does take time, and we needed that time. But also everybody just wanted to see this so we did it as fast as we could to get it on air,” he said.
Although the production began last year, the process of bringing this series to life had begun in 2019. “We have been working on this for four years. It has been a long amazing journey but we also wanted to give it the time. When you are telling a really complicated story like this and you want to give it justice, that takes time. Casting it to find the right kids, we wanted to put that time in and once we got started, for us it felt like a roller coster ride to get this on the air but also deliver it with really high quality. And that was also hiring the best people in the world which we were fortunate to do,” he added.
A production of this scale requires a strong team and Steinberg is nothing but proud of them. “This has been a very long road with a lot of great people and I think to me it is that (process). It is the team that was put together, it is a team I would want to go make anything with, hopefully more of these,” he said.
Asked if they have any fond memories on the sets of the series, Shotz said, “It was just being silly with the kids. Every time I think about how fun they were and how much fun they were having, whether it was just fake fights on the set to getting everyone to cheer for them as they were fighting, just being so fun and silly in themselves, and I think that’s what comes across in the show. These kids are real kids and they are going through this experience, both personally as well as these characters, and I am just excited for the world to see them.”
Percy Jackson and the Olympians premiered its first two episodes on December 19 on Disney+ Hotstar and will be airing a new episode every Tuesday.
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