‘Percy Jackson’ Series in the Works at Disney+

A series based on the Percy Jackson novels is in development at Disney+.

The project, which author Rick Riordan announced Thursday on Twitter, is in its early stages at the streamer, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, beginning with The Lightning Thief, encompasses five novels and also spawned two follow-up series, Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo. The first two series were published by Hyperion when it was a Disney subsidiary (the Trials of Apollo books came after the imprint’s acquisition by Hachette).

The Lightning Thief and the second book in the series, Sea of Monsters, were previously adapted as feature films at 20th Century Fox (which is now owned by Disney). The pics starred Logan Lerman as the title character, a boy who discovers he’s the son of the Greek god Poseidon, and Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth, another demigod. 

The movies aged up the characters somewhat, with Percy as a 16-year-old rather than a 12-year-old as at the beginning of the book series. Riordan wrote on Twitter that the potential series will be a more faithful adaptation.

“We are very excited about the idea of a live-action series of the highest quality, following the storyline of the original Percy Jackson five-book series, beginning with The Lightning Thief in season one,” Riordan wrote. He added that he and his wife Becky will be involved “in every aspect of the show.” 

The Percy Jackson news follows a familiar Disney+ blueprint of using well-established IP as the basis for series projects. The streamer has already debuted series based on Star Wars (The Mandalorian) and High School Musical (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series) and is developing a host of Marvel projects, several other Star Wars series, a Beauty and the Beast prequel, a reboot of Doogie Howser, M.D. and a National Treasure series, among other efforts.

Related Stories

Related Story

'National Treasure' TV Series in the Works for Disney+

See Riordan’s announcement of the Percy Jackson news, below.

Pssst. Hey, demigods . . . pic.twitter.com/7ep4aeyS3I

— Rick Riordan (@rickriordan) May 14, 2020