Percy Jackson has been an icon since Rick Riordan released the first book on June 28, 2005. According to Dimitrije Curcic, on Words Rated, as of November 2021, over 100 million copies of The Lightning Thief had been sold in the United States and many more in the past two years since then. Riordan has released twenty-nine more books in the Percy Jackson universe and one scheduled for release in September of 2024. There have also been two movies and an 8-episode season was just released by Disney.  

With the creation of the Percy Jackson television series, Generation Alpha also gets to grow up with these iconic characters while Generation Z continues to experience their favorite childhood hero on screen. 

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is about the demigod, Percy Jackson, who leads a quest across America to prevent a war among the Olympian gods. Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri star as Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Grover Underwood respectfully. Two of the main creators of this show are Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg.  

Rotten Tomatoes has this show rated well by both critics and audiences. The critics loved this show and gave it a rating of 91%. The audience also really liked the show with a rating of 81%. If this is compared to the two movies that were released in early 2010s, which were both close to 50%, the show did much better.  

Overall, this show was able to portray the characters and their personalities better than what we have seen previously. While there were several instances in the show that made long-term fans frustrated, most of us got over it. From USA Today, Kelly Lawler states, “Every TV show based on a book, comic, or video game has to stand on its own.”

Riordan was in charge of any change made from the book to the show and he himself stated in an interview on The Hollywood Reporter, “I was involved in every writers room, I read every draft of every script, we gave notes on everything.” This comforted many fans and helped them get over and love the changes made in the show.  

Spoilers ahead:

From the first episode –– when Percy narrates lines from the book to the last episode credit scene when Gabe finds Medusa’s head in the box–– this newest edition to the Percy Jackson universe has gotten fans hooked all over again. New fans and old fans have fallen in love with the characters and their story that will continue for a long time coming. No matter what happens, even if it is like the four pearls or the passing of the deadline, the fans will continue to love these characters and their actors. 

Featured image by Disney+