What could become a defining franchise of the 2020s is set to debut on Disney+ in just a matter of days. Percy Jackson and the Olympians is set to chronicle the events of The Lightning Thief, the first story in Rick Riordan’s original pentalogy, in Season 1. While all chatter from showrunners Dan Shotz and Jonathan Steinberg have indicated that these first eight episodes will stand on their own, they do plant the seeds for the larger, five-book narrative at play. That has been evident through Easter eggs seen in trailers thus far like Thalia’s tree, hippocampi skeletons, and beyond.
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First Look at The Fates in Percy Jackson Season 1
Beware their snips.
During a new Percy Jackson and the Olympians “Greek Mythology 101” featurette, Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson) and Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood) catch audiences up on some key players in the larger Percy Jackson world as Leah Jeffries (Annabeth Chase) gives them prompts. Beyond the familiar faces like the Minotaur and Medusa, Jeffries eventually asks Scobell and Simhadri to describe The Fates.
“The three sisters of destiny,” Simhadri said. “If you make eye contact with one of them and they cut a thread, you’re going to die soon. Sorry.”
The Fates’ Role in Larger Percy Jackson World
The Fates are perhaps the biggest “larger world” puzzle piece that Percy Jackson and the Olympians has showcased thus far.
On the page, The Fates debut in The Lightning Thief, sitting opposite Percy and Grover as they bus back from Yancy Academy to Manhattan. The trio of old ladies were seen knitting a massive pair of socks using electric blue yarn. Eventually, the old lady sitting in the middle takes her pair of scissors, described as being the size of shears, and snipped the yarn right down the middle.
“I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic,” page 26 of The Lightning Thief reads.
As it goes, The Fates snipping the yarn symbolizes a future death. This particular moment within Percy Jackson lore is the equivalent of the Thor: The Dark World post credits scene which sees the first name-drop of “infinity stones” uttered in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, followed by The Collector’s eery “one down, five to go,” signaling the beginning of the Infinity Gauntlet saga. The Fates snipping the yarn is that first tangible moment that points to what’s to come down the line.
Unlike quest-based prophecies, which tend to come to fruition within a matter of weeks, The Fates snipping the yarn in The Lightning Thief proves to be an omen that looms over Percy and company throughout all five original books.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians premieres on Disney+ on December 20th.