Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 recently wrapped up, and Season 3 is already set to be on the 2026 TV schedule. But, as it goes with most book adaptations that make changes to the source material, backlash about faithfulness has been a part of the conversation among fans, and series’ author Rick Riordan just spoke to his thoughts on the show so far.
One of Rick Riordan’s fans (who says she has been reading the Percy Jackson since she was eight years old) took to Goodreads to ask the author if he’s been “happy with the changes” that have been made in the series thus far – citing her own “very mixed feelings about the TV show.” He replied,
Well, since I write books, of course I am going to say that books are always better, but that's my personal bias! I think the crew and cast have done a remarkable job in a very challenging time for the TV industry bringing the Percy story to the screen, and I can tell you firsthand that hundreds of people poured their hearts and souls into this show, working long days for years to make it happen. If we had infinite time and infinite money and 20-20 foresight, are there things I would've changed or added? Sure! I think everyone on the team could pick some things like that.
Riordan has been an executive producer on Percy Jackson and the Olympians series alongside his wife Becky since the show started development back in 2020. As he shared, he always thinks the book is going to be better than a TV/movie adaptation, and he brings up some challenges the streaming series has given that it doesn’t have an “infinite” budget. It isn’t necessarily perfect, but is being made with a lot of love and effort. He continued:
But making a TV show is a team sport, which means you have to let all the participants do their jobs and make their best creative decisions based on what is possible given the budget and the time frame, while juggling the wish list of the production team, the studio, the platform, and of course the fans. Absolutely I am involved and weigh in -- especially on the scripts. But no one can possibly control every single decision or detail, and no one is going to be 100% satisfied with everything.
The TV show is certainly a big upgrade from the cancelled Percy Jackson movie series starring Logan Lerman and Alexandra Daddario, with which Riordan was not involved, and he voiced issues with the production aging up the main characters and changing significant portions of his novels. The films ended up stopping after two movies, which was also fueled by fans being unhappy with the adaptation as well.
When CinemaBlend spoke to Riordan late last year about his current involvement in the Percy Jackson TV show, he told us he gives the writer’s room an outline of how he’d break down each one of his books within a season of TV, and while he doesn’t sit in the writer’s room, he’s “involved in every script” and has been “very pleased” with how the show has turned out.
That message of collaboration continued in his GoodReads post:
The result is always going to be a compromise. As viewers, we all have our own litmus tests about what constitutes a good adaptation. Some changes that would bother you might not bother me at all, or vice versa, and in fact I think a lot of the changes in the series improved the story! But I respect and understand that everyone is going to have their own opinions, and reactions to the show are going to be in a wide range.
Perhaps the biggest change to the source material occurred during the finale of Season 2 when it was revealed that Zeus turned his daughter Thalia on purpose rather than him having to resort to it to save her life. While we didn’t know the changes when we talked to Riordan, the author shared his love for the adaptation of Thalia in our interview as well. He also said this in the fan response:
Having said that, I think the show has checked a lot of boxes for a lot of viewers and Percy fans, and the reception, judging from the metrics I've seen and the fan interactions I've had, has been overwhelmingly positive. The young actors, in particular, are incredible! I also think we're getting better as we go. I think season two improved upon season one, and season three is even better.
Riordan concluded his message by telling the fan he hopes she’ll continue to watch and enjoy the show along with sharing that he gets how it’s a “different experience” to read vs. watch the adaptation.
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