A Behind-The-Scenes Look At The ‘Percy Jackson’ Series
Image Source: IGN
It seems lately that the Percy Jackson series has taken the world by storm. It’s no surprise, as most of the people who grew up with the series are now adults, and for so many of us, we are excited to finally get a faithful adaptation of a beloved book series. After a long wait, the first two episodes are only a few days away. The series will bring back old fans, and welcome many new fans as well. Adapting the series to a TV show was no easy task, and there was a lot of pressure to make a faithful adaptation. However, it seems like the upcoming Disney+ series has achieved that task, but how exactly did it all come about?
The TV series, instead of a movie, allowed the creators to tell a story that is closer to the source material. With it coming out in 2023 however, it also gave a fresh perspective on the characters. Leah Jeffries, a young black actress, was ultimately cast as Annabeth Chase, Percy’s friend and then eventual girlfriend. In the book, Annabeth white girl with blonde hair. This is the beauty of adapting this series in 2023, as anyone could play this beloved character. The author, Rick Riordan himself, has even said that Leah is as perfect as Annabeth, and I trust him.
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Image Source: IGN
Monsters play a big part in Greek mythology, and that is no different in the Percy Jackson franchise. The show will give us a fleshed-out perspective of the legendary snake monster, Medusa, which differs from the books. In the books, Medusa was the standard villain, however, we will see a lot more from her POV in the show.
With Percy being so young, 12, in The Lightning Thief, Walker Scobell is the perfect age, 14, to start his journey as Percy. Since the story is from Percy’s perspective, this enabled the crew to film various scenes from Scobell’s eye level. One of these scenes was the one with the Minotaur. Percy, his mother Sally, and his satyr friend Grover are all in the car trying to escape the minotaur. The camera stays in the car and only gives us a glimpse of the creature at first. Whatever we see in the show, we see through Percy’s eyes, making everything much more terrifying.
Percy and his friends encounter many Greek Gods on their journey, but at the end of the day, the story is about how these kids navigate this monster-filled world. The young actors impressed their adult collaborators with the effort they put into filming. Scobell worked 150 out of 160 days of production on season 1, and supposedly they were not easy days. The series was shot over the summer in Vancouver, and one of the biggest issues the actors dealt with was the hot temperatures, especially when they filmed in their heavy armor or costumes. The fan-favorite capture the flag scene, while it looks fun, was tough to film, due to the conditions.
Image Source: IGN
It seems a lot of love went into this series, and that should make any fan happy. Hopefully, the first season will do well and bring us many more seasons. After all, a lot of fans have been waiting years for a worthy adaptation, and it seems to finally be here.
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