For loyal fans of 2010’s modest YA hit, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, the wait for the film’s long-gestating sequel is almost over. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters opens in less than a month, and to compliment the domestic and international trailers for the next chapter in the titular demigod’s adventures, Fox has released a brand new featurette that focuses on the movie’s mythological backgrounds, gets us acquainted with some new faces, and shows off some new footage to sweeten the pot.
The second go-round in the series sees the continued education of Percy (Logan Lerman, back for more after the first film) at Camp Half-Blood, an ancient training ground for demigods – children born by a god and a mortal human. This time, things go awry for the camp when its magical defenses are weakened and its borders are breached by enemies. It’s falls to Percy and his friends, Grover Underwood (Brandon T. Jackson) and Annabeth Chase (Alexandria Daddario), to take up the quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece, the only thing that can save their home, from the Bermuda Triangle, the eponymous sea of monsters.
Of course, it’s not going to be easy; their journey is fraught with dangers and puts them in conflict with an evil that’s as old as time itself. Fortunately, Percy and company have a few new friends to help them out, as well as returning mentors. The featurette familiarizes us with three characters in particular, Tyson (Douglas Smith), a cyclops and Percy’s half-brother, Clarisse (Leven Rambin), the daughter of Ares, the god of war, and, slightly more prominently, Hermes (Nathan Fillion), the messenger god and operator of the Olympus Parcel Service; we’re also treated to some discussion with Anthony Head and Stanley Tucci, who play the centaur Chiron (played by Pierce Brosnan in the previous film) and Mr. D, respectively.
There’s a few shots of material we haven’t seen before – including a better look at the three Gray sisters, the drivers of the chariot of damnation, and a brief but pretty cool sequence featuring a rampaging cyclops. Based on the clip, and on the talking head interviews with various actors, Sea of Monsters appears to make even more of a focal point out of incorporating Greek mythology into modern living than the last film; with Percy’s origin story out of the way, it looks as though the sequel gets to have even more fun figuring out how gods, monsters, and magic secretly thrive in today’s world.
Looks like light, airy fun, much like The Lightning Thief was. We’ll see for sure once August rolls around – will you be on board for Percy’s newest adventure?
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Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters arrives in theaters on August 7th, 2013.
