Once Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians releases, there’s already a prime option for the next YA TV adaptation. Hype is building for the upcoming Percy Jackson and The Olympians series, which is based on the eponymous novels by Rick Riordan. In this action-adventure series, a young teen named Percy Jackson learns he’s the demigod son of Poseidon who must harness his powers at Camp Half-Blood. While there, he gets framed for stealing Zeus’ thunderbolt, so he must find a way to prove his innocence with the help of his friends Annabeth and Grover.
The Percy Jackson TV series is the latest in a trend of book adaptations for the big and small screens; however, it’s unique in that it previously had a movie series that flopped. After the release of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, there’s another book series that deserves another shot at a screen adaptation. Summit Entertainment previously turned the Divergent books into movies, but they failed miserably, with the final film being canceled. Despite this, the books have a compelling plot and well-developed characters that would work well in a TV production.
Divergent Deserves An Adaptation With A Proper Ending
Though the Divergent series started out strong, it saw a downturn after Insurgent featured some major differences from the book. The changes were unwelcome by fans of the source material, and things only got worse from there. The producers decided to split Allegiant into two movies. While the production team justified this choice in interviews, it felt like an unnecessary cash grab after the trend of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Twilight: Breaking Dawn. When the Allegiant movie released, it had even worse critic ratings, box office numbers, and fan reception.
After the failure of Allegiant, the production company slashed the budget for the last movie. They canceled its theatrical release because the risks of another Divergent movie hitting theaters outweighed the benefits. Rumors covered the possibility of making a TV show to finish the rest of the series. While this would’ve been the best format to start with, changing after three movies would’ve felt discordant with the rest of the adaptations up to that point. Ultimately, the discussion turned to the possibility of a TV movie to wrap the series up.
None of the actors seemed interested in this option, with Theo James, Shailene Woodley, and Miles Teller saying they wouldn’t participate in the final film if this change took place. As such, the movies simply stopped after the first Allegiant. The movie series never concluded, leaving many questions unanswered. While the Allegiant book answered the biggest questions, viewers never got a proper conclusion on-screen. Given the compelling ending found in the books, the franchise deserves an adaptation with a complete story. This isn’t out of the realm of possibility depending on the success of another upcoming adaptation.
Disney’s Percy Jackson Could Trigger A Wave Of New YA Adaptations
Like Divergent, Percy Jackson and the Olympians previously had movies that flopped. Luckily for fans of the books, Disney is giving the mythology-based YA series another shot, releasing a Percy Jackson TV show on Disney+ on December 20, 2023. The series already seems promising based on the teaser, which includes accurate Percy Jackson details like characters and locations. The attention to and respect for the source material will likely appeal to fans of the source material.
If Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians goes as well as expected, it could trigger a whole new wave of YA adaptations for the big screen and small screen. While YA novels get a bad reputation, the Percy Jackson TV series could prove to broadcast networks and streaming sites that audiences will show up for young adult content. The success of this show could really drive the point home that YA adaptations have efficacy as an investment.
Additionally, producers may consider making new adaptations of book franchises with movies that previously flopped. ABC’s Shadowhunters and Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events already showed the positives of this option, though those two only had a single movie. Percy Jackson and The Olympians, which had two previous movies, would remind the TV business that stories don’t need to be one and done. Even books with failed movie adaptations can serve as the basis of new TV content.
A Divergent TV Series Would Work Better Than The Movies
Not every book detail needs to be a movie or TV show, but successful adaptations make sure to include all the crucial elements that contribute to the plot. Unfortunately, this makes a Divergent adaptation difficult. The Divergent books include a total of 1,842 pages packed with action, character development, and world-building. Since most of the book elements directly impact the overall storyline, it’d be hard to weed everything down for movies. Even if they went with the original plan to release four movies, that would only provide six to eight hours for a complex dystopian story.
Like Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Divergent would do much better as a TV adaptation instead of movies. Even if a network or streaming site only made one season, that would provide approximately ten to twenty hours in which they can tell the story. This could work out well, as long as they make each moment of the episodes count. A Divergent series would ideally get at least one season for each book so that they could include as much canon content as possible. Hopefully, the Percy Jackson series will allow a Divergent TV adaptation to come to fruition.
