Percy Jackson: Rick Riordan Reveals How Many Chapters of The Lightning Thief Have Been Filmed
May 2020: author Rick Riordan announces a live-action adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is coming to Disney+. December 2020: the series is officially announced at Disney Investor Day. April 2022: Walker Scobell is cast as the titular character. June 2022: Percy Jackson officially kicks off production. September 2022: the first teaser trailer arrives.
All of that is to emphasize the momentum that Percy Jackson and the Olympians has sustained for well over two years now. As revealed in a recent blog update, Riordan stressed that that momentum isn't going anywhere.
"In terms of content, we are about up to chapter sixteen in the book, [The Lightning Thief]," Riordan wrote. "Though as I've shared before, we don't film in strict chronological order."
This latest checkpoint indicates that Percy Jackson is very much on schedule. As of August 15th, the show had "pretty much filmed" through Chapter 9 of The Lightning Thief, meaning that the team is averaging about three chapters per month of production. Given that Percy Jackson is scheduled to shoot until January 2023, that leaves almost four full months to film what remains in the final six chapters.
While that might seem like Percy Jackson is ahead of schedule, it's worth noting that those last chapters pack a colossal amount of content. Locations such as the Underworld and Olympus are ventured to, while climactic confrontations with the likes of Ares and Hades take place in the home stretch. It's unclear how much of these last six chapters will be shot on location versus on the Vancouver StageCraft.
Beyond that, Riordan pointed out that the series is far from polished when it comes to special effects.
"These cuts are still very unfinished. None of the special effects have been added. The music is just placeholder music," Riordan wrote. "We have to use our imagination to picture what the final episode will look like. That work, post production or just 'post,' will take almost an entire year, from what I understand."
Regardless of how much time it will to finish Percy Jackson Season 1, Riordan emphasized that it has all the makings of a satisfactory product.
"Long story short? I am happy with this show, folks," Riordan wrote. "And I think you will be too."
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is currently in production and is expected to arrive on Disney+ in 2024.