Rick Riordan has long been teasing his approved adaptation of his popular Percy Jackson books, and we’re finally coming close to seeing the Disney+ series!! The streaming service announced the release date of Percy Jackson and the Olympians in the first trailer for the show along with a teaser for the late Lance Reddick’s role of Zeus.
The trailer (which you can watch above) revealed that Percy Jackson and the Olympians is premiering earlier than we thought, on December 20, 2023. The series was originally expected for early 2024, but Disney+ upped the release date. The 30-second teaser shows some brief images of some of the characters and monsters, and I got major chills over Lance Reddick capping it all off when his voice can be heard uttering the words: “Percy Jackson, we’ve been expecting you” in the final shot of the whole thing.
Ever since Lance Reddick joined the cast of Percy Jackson and the Olympians I’ve been excited by the choice because The Wire and John Wick actor really has the gravitas for the Greek god. Tragically, Reddick died at the age of 60 back in March, just about a month after the Percy Jackson show wrapped filming, so it’s going to be even more special to see what could be Reddick’s final on-screen role he ever filmed in the series.
Upcoming Book-To-Screen Adaptations: What To Read Before The Movie Or TV Show
In the first Percy Jackson book, The Lightning Thief, which the first season of the Disney+ show will adapt, Zeus’s Master Bolt is stolen and Percy Jackson’s father Poseidon is blamed and he has suspicions that Percy is the one who stole it for him. With a target on Percy’s back, he goes on a quest to find and return Zeus’s Master Bolt before war begins to rage among the gods. Suffice to say, Lance Reddick’s role in the series is very important to the season.
While it’s unfortunate that we’re all going to fall in love with Reddick’s Zeus only to see him be replaced by another actor in future seasons, it also feels like the perfect role to keep his legacy going come December. That plus there’s so many exciting teases in the 30-second trailer that have me excited to watch the first season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I think I see the first look at Ares, Medusa, and a round of monsters Percy, Annabeth, and Grover come in contact with during their quest and I’m really excited to see how the series adapts the source material.
The Lightning Thief was previously adapted into a movie starring Logan Lerman, which had Sean Bean portraying Zeus, in 2010, but there were so many differences between the book and movie that it was frustrating. We can’t wait to see this iteration of Percy Jackson come to life, especially considering Rick Riordan is so involved, come December 20!
