On paper, the big screen Percy Jackson franchise possessed all of the ingredients to be a success. It was based on a popular literary series that had sold close to 70 million copies around the world, the concept of a teenager who was the demigod son of Poseidon was a strong premise on which to tell several fantasy adventures with their origins in Greek mythology, and there was an impressive roster of talent assembled.
Chris Columbus had launched Harry Potter, so he felt like a smart choice to direct, while rising talents Logan Lerman and Alexandra Daddario appealed to the younger demographic and the star-studded supporting cast featured Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman and Rosario Dawson among others. However, Percy Jackson & the Olympians was a by-the-numbers family film that received lukewarm reviews and earned a solid if unspectacular $226 million at the box office.
Sequel The Lightning Thief found itself with worse notices from critics and made less money, ending the series in the process. One person who was thrilled at the news, though, was author Rick Riordan, who was completely shut out of the creative process and isn’t shy in letting people know what he thought of the films.
Luckily, he’s heavily involved in the upcoming episodic reboot for Disney Plus, and the pilot script is currently under review by the Mouse House’s hierarchy before they start seriously moving forward on development. Not only that, but insider Daniel Richtman claims that Percy Jackson will run for five seasons, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given that there are five books in the main series. Whether or not the studio have actually committed to all of them is another question entirely, one that will surely depend on how the first run of episodes are received whenever they arrive, but it certainly seems as if there are big plans in store for the project.
