Title: Percy Jackson Live Action Review

This article will contain spoilers for Season 1 of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” (2023) the TV show and “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” the book series. 

On Dec. 19, the first episode of the live-action adaptation of Rick Riordan’s beloved book series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” was released. The show, which has the same name, with Riordan on the writing team, had made many changes — some big, some little — to the book series it’s based on, which, alongside other issues such as the odd pacing, has upset some fans. Other fans believe it to be an overall decent adaptation with potential to be pretty good in the long-term.

One of the changes many viewers noticed is in regards to Sally Jackson, Percy’s mother. Because the books are told from Percy’s point of view, the audience doesn’t know a lot about her as a character aside from what Percy thinks of her: too kind and good for this world. On the other hand, in the show, she feels more like a real parent: caring and strict. The live-action TV show is able to show us a lot more of who she is as a person and a parent as well as her relationship with Poseidon. 

Another change is Gabe Ugliano, Percy Jackson’s first stepfather. When translating the books to the screen, the show took the mentally and physically (implied) abusive character and sanitized him. In an interview with TheWrap, executive producer Jon Steinberg explains, “when you’re reading it, especially when you’re a kid reading it, and you can just read right past it. That’s a different thing than seeing it”. It’s easier for people to distance themselves from how scary Gabe Ugliano is in the books than it would be if he was adapted word-for-word on TV. This, along with the fact that the show holds a TV-PG rating, is likely why he was toned down. His death still ended up feeling poetic, his disregard for others’ boundaries led him to the end of his fate.

The concept of glory or “kleos” is also new. Between Zoe Nightshade’s history with Heracles/Hercules and Percy turning down immortality in favor of making the Gods acknowledge their children, one could argue that glory versus love has always been a central theme of the series, but it was never as blatantly touched upon as the show appears to be doing.

Something else that changed is that in the books, Echidna goes after Percy, Annabeth, and Grover because Zeus tells her to do so. In the show, it’s because she wants to and she is able to pursue the kids into the Gateway Arch because Athena allowed Echidna in order to punish Annabeth for embarrassing her. In the books, Zeus sending a monster after Percy is never touched on again, but the show continues to bring up Athena’s abandonment of Annabeth afterwards, such as the scene with Hephaestus and when Annabeth gets stuck in the Fields of Asphodel in the Underworld. People who have read “Heroes of Olympus” know that Athena did use her children to get glory even if it is to their detriment — most evident in “Mark of Athena'' by the skeletons of Annabeth’s siblings surrounding the Athena Parthenos. However, the “Percy Jackson and the Olympian” book series don’t have anything like Athena essentially abandoning Annabeth to die. 

Additionally, Percy and Annabeth weren’t supposed to meet Hephaestus in “The Lightning Thief”. Originally, Ares has Percy, Annabeth, and Grover go to Waterland to fetch his shield, which contrasts the show’s decision to have Ares make Grover stay behind as a hostage. Originally, Percy and Annabeth go on the Thrill Ride O’ Love together and instead of showing Hephaestus’ backstory in an epic projection of “What Is Love” by Haddaway, Percy and Annabeth have to escape numerous mechanical spiders while being broadcasted on Olympus’ TV channels. Something the TV show does really well by making this change is show Grover’s strengths. In the show, while his friends are fetching Ares’ shield, Grover uses his high emotional intelligence to manipulate Ares into giving him information on who stole Zeus’ lightning bolt. Often, in the media, characters with high emotional intelligence are made out to be naive and weak, but Grover is able to successfully gaslight the god of war into revealing his part in the heist when in the books, the readers don’t find out about the part he played until Percy’s fight with Ares on the beach. 

The Lotus Hotel and Casino also had a lot of changes made to it, namely Hermes’ appearance and the characters being aware that the Hotel is the same as the Lotus Eaters from the Odyssey. In the books, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover see the Lotus Hotel and Casino and decide to stay there because it seemed safe and fun, not because Hermes was there. It’s only until Percy talks to another resident who was using old-timey slang that he realizes something is off and goes to wake up Annabeth and Grover. Additionally, the audience got to learn more about Grover’s past when he reunited with Augustus, a family friend who went missing, and got more set-up for the fourth book, “Battle of the Labyrinth”. 

A major change that occurs is when Percy goes to return the lightning bolt to Zeus and warn him about Kronos returning. In the books, the summer solstice is about to occur when Percy shows up. Both Zeus and Poseidon are in the throne room and when Percy reveals what happened, Zeus is a little bit in denial about Kronos. In the show, the summer solstice already passed, meaning the war is happening when Percy returns the lightning bolt and would have continued. Zeus in the show is much more terrifying than Zeus from the books, illustrating the character’s ruthlessness and pride. If Poseidon hadn’t shown up to stop the bolt and surrender, the TV series would have had to end right there. Poseidon’s appearance also demonstrated to the audience the theme of glory versus love. By surrendering, Poseidon sacrifices his own pride, something the gods appear to value highly, for Percy.

The reveal of Luke Castellan being the traitor is pretty divisive. In the books, this antagonist is a blend of evil for giggles and sympathetic villain, and the show really leaned into the sympathetic villain part. While yes, Luke’s, “Pit scorpions can jump up to fifteen feet. Its stinger can pierce right through your clothes. You'll be dead in sixty seconds,” quote from the books would be epic to adapt, the recruitment offer going wrong and turning into a fight feels much more sinister. Luke is often considered a bitter antihero, the foil to Percy who is still young but just as angry. By showing his sympathetic side, the show is able to set up why so many campers decided to join him in future seasons.

Lastly, there are some notable minor changes I would like to address. First, the viewers never learn the name of Percy’s sword, which is “Anaklusmos”, meaning “Riptide”. This isn’t super important to know in the first season, but it will be important later in book three “The Titan’s Curse” when we learn Zoe Nightshade made the sword for Heracles/Hercules. Luke and Annabeth’s relationship also features a small change. In the books, Annabeth has a one-sided crush on Luke, which the show cut out, while Luke sees her as a little sister, which ended up being more told than shown. The scene with Gladiola the poodle was also cut. When it came to dealing with monsters such as Medusa and Procrustes, there was no element of surprise like there was in the books. A change that people initially disliked but grew to appreciate is Poseidon giving Percy four pearls to be able to escape the underworld instead of three. Even though one of them ended up getting lost, it shows that Poseidon also cared about saving Sally. Speaking of the underworld, Hades’ character ended up going from a fearsome outcast in the books to what can best be described as a bubbly car salesman, offering you snacks and a seat before getting down to business. Some people enjoyed this change while a few lamented how intimidating he was. The last thing I’d like to touch on is the fight with Ares. By putting it at the beginning of the last Episode, the suspense from the previous ones was lost and the pacing ended up being a bit off. Also, Ares didn’t curse Percy at the end, which will affect book three “The Titan’s Curse”. 

With a rotten tomatoes score of 92%, ​​“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” (2023) had a pretty positive reception with mixed feelings towards the changes made. Some of the major issues with the adaptation seem to stem from pacing and a lack of time, which is something many other Disney+ shows also struggle with due to the eight-episode rule. Less time means characters and plotlines can end up feeling rushed or underdeveloped, and changes have to be made which can disappoint or intrigue viewers.