Greek myths and the modern world converge once more as production begins for Season 2 of the Disney+ live-action adaptation of the best-selling Young Adult fantasy “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”
Confirmed by a production trailer released on the last day of D23, Season 2 will focus on the second book of the original series, “The Sea of Monsters.”
From the look of the production trailer, it appears the main cast will return from the previous season and the plot will follow the book closely.
In the book, the main story focuses on Percy, Annabeth and Grover adventuring on a quest to find the mythical Golden Fleece from Greek mythology. The story takes them through the titular Sea of Monsters, the book’s version of the Bermuda Triangle.
This will be the second attempt at a live-action adaptation of the “Sea of Monsters” since the infamous 20th Century Studios film released in 2013.
The film received generally negative reviews with 42% on Rotten Tomatoes and 39 on Metacritic.
Some of the major complaints of the film include overloaded plot, poor characterization and unnecessary plot deviations from the books.
Fans of the book series universally hated the live-action films, with concerns of the cast being too old (the characters in the books were 12 years old at the start while in the movies they were 16) and strange plot changes that were either in direct opposition to the books or not present until later on in the series.
Some examples include the depiction of Hades and the underworld being very different from the book, with the underworld appearing more like a generic hellscape and Hades having completely different motivations.
In the book Hades does not want war and complains he is being unfairly blamed for the war between his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon. In the film, he is confusingly portrayed as wanting war and is poorly characterized as a war mongering unintelligent brute.
Then there’s the Titan lord Kronos whose plot is completely rushed and mishandled. In the books, he doesn’t make a physical appearance until Book 4 while in the film he is portrayed in the convoluted final conflict.
Not only is he shoehorned into the story far too soon, but the film bafflingly botches his character as well. In the book Kronos is portrayed as conniving and manipulative, having a sort of dark, brooding intelligence. In the movie he is shown as a cannibalistic monster with no depth and no character development.
While the new television show is far from perfect, due to the direct involvement from the author of the original book series, Rick Riordan, the new show is far more faithful to the books than the films.
The biggest stand out is the age appropriateness of the main cast, Percy Jackson, played by Walker Scobell (15), Annabeth Chase, played by Leah Sava Jeffries (14) and Grover Underwood, played by Aryan Simhadri (18).
These characters feel real and authentic and accurately portray tweens and teens.
Season 2 will be released in 2025, but no specific date has been announced. The replacement actor for the character of Zeus has yet to be revealed.
