The Disney+ show Percy Jackson and the Olympians will feature at least one scene that does not appear in the books, which is good news for the Riordanverse. In May 2020, Rick Riordan announced Disney was adapting his beloved middle-grade fantasy series, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, for its streaming service. The show will follow The Adam Project breakout star Walker Scobell in the titular role of a powerful teenage demigod.
Rick Riordan’s wife and collaborator, Becky Riordan, recently announced a non-book scene she helped create to improve story logic. Rick Riordan then confirmed the TV adaptation will feature small changes from the original stories (via Rick Riordan News). These reports may give audiences familiar with the previous adaptations pause, since deviating from the books was one of the many fatal mistakes that doomed the Percy Jackson movies.
What The New Percy Jackson Scenes Mean For The Riordanverse
Non-book scenes in Percy Jackson and the Olympians have the potential to expand the “Riordanverse,” in which Percy exists. Percy Jackson began as a passion project inspired by Rick Riordan’s son. However, the Riordanverse has since broadened in scope following the publication of several mythological spinoff series, including the Egyptian mythology-based The Kane Chronicles (currently being adapted into a promising movie series by Netflix). Non-book scenes in Percy Jackson could retroactively add to the Riordanverse, improving world-building in addition to just offering more clarity. For instance, Percy could be discouraged from visiting Brooklyn — the territory of the Egyptians — or Annabeth could discuss her cousin, Magnus Chase, a Norse demigod.
Disney’s approval of non-book scenes hints that its streaming platform may be thinking long-term about the Riordanverse. The many books and short stories of the Riordanverse are highly intertwined, not to mention extremely popular. Disney would be wise to seriously consider Rick Riordan’s works as major franchise potential, not unlike the MCU. They could very well be using Percy Jackson to build a strong foundation for future interconnected Riordanverse TV shows and movies. Prioritizing clarity and world-building by approving non-book scenes would therefore be a must. Though Netflix’s ownership of the rights to The Kane Chronicles would surely throw a wrench in a franchise plan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians viewers could expect to see Percy’s adventures play out on Disney+ for years to come.
