Disney’s development of a Percy Jackson series shows how they must reboot Eragon. The long-awaited Greek fantasy series is currently in production, and its author, Rick Riordan, will have creative input and oversight for the show. This marks the second adaptation of the popular young adult series after two poorly reviewed films, giving audiences of other unsuccessful franchises hope for their own reboot.
Disney’s reboot of the Percy Jackson franchise began production in May 2020, and frequent updates have been posted on Rick Riordan’s blog to keep his audience in the loop. The Greek mythology series was originally adapted for the big screen in Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief in 2010 and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters in 2013. The films performed poorly at the box office and disappointed many of the popular series’ readers, in no small part because a lot went wrong with the Percy Jackson film adaptations. The series was rebooted in 2020 by Disney and was commissioned for an 8-episode season adapting the first book, The Lightning Thief.
Disney acquired Fox Studios in 2019, including the rights to the Eragon series adapted in 2006. The film was a whistle-stop tour of scenes from the first book in Christopher Paolini’s best-selling series, and received poor reviews from critics and the novel’s readership. Despite a star-studded cast, the film cut plot points and rushed through character development. The poor response ruined plans for sequels, and Hollywood dropped the franchise. The revival of the similarly unsuccessful Percy Jackson series signals the company’s willingness to take risks and give failed adaptations a second chance. Paolini’s first book sold over 6 million copies in North America alone, and the fact the books sold an overall 40 million copies heavily suggests the franchise could produce a real hit TV series, especially after Eragon’s author pushed for a reboot.
With Rick Riordan’s intentions to make a season per book in the series, this adaptation of Percy Jackson should avoid many of the 2010 film’s problems. Most of Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief’s issues stem from a lack of screen time to develop characters and jarringly shoehorning subplots. Disney’s reboot of the franchise as a TV show has tackled these problems head-on. By giving the series exponentially more screen time, the show could portray the character’s development and explore plot points in a way the films simply didn’t have time for. These issues were also glaringly present in Eragon, which omitted an entire race of dwarves from the series and aged Saphira from a recently-hatched dragon to almost fully grown in one scene. By rebooting Eragon as a TV show and dedicating a season per book, Disney could find major success where Fox Studios failed.
The involvement of the original writer in the series marked another fix with the Percy Jackson reboot, which demonstrated Disney’s willingness to accommodate an author’s creative input in their series. This factor signals the significance of an author’s involvement in any adaptation of their work. Another of the largest issues with both the Eragon and Percy Jackson films was the lack of input from their author’s, leading to messy plot points, less-than-stellar writing and many characters being reimagined inaccurately to further a narrative. For Percy Jackson this was most apparent by Grover’s transformation from nervous stutterer to extrovert playboy, whereas in Eragon Arya, an accomplished warrior, became a damsel-in-distress. If Disney rebooted Eragon, consultation from Paolini would be essential to avoid another flop.
The success of the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series could prompt more second chances for previously failed franchises like Eragon. After Disney bought Fox and its film rights, Disney could reboot many franchises to be far more lucrative and successful than they were before. Using the lessons learned from producing the Percy Jackson series, Disney could give Eragon a second lease on life.
