Percy Jackson: Production Team Details Taking the Underworld in an Unexpected Direction (Exclusive)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is set to take fans across the world, both the real and mystical. The first season of Disney+’s live-action adaptation of Rick Riordan’s best-selling novels brings the first installment, The Lightning Thief, to the streaming screen. As emphasized by Riordan, who also serves as an executive producer on the show, these first eight episodes are as faithful to the source material as possible. This means notable characters like Ares (Adam Copeland) play a major role while crucial locations like the St. Louis Arch are on full display.

Among those big locations is the Underworld. Greek mythology’s answer to hell, this kingdom of Hades serves as the ultimate destination for Percy and company on their cross-country quest. The latest trailer shows a brief glimpse of Jay Duplass’s Hades approaching Percy and Grover in his throne room. In a twist, the Percy Jackson depiction of the Underworld is not fiery and red but rather dreary and gray.

Percy Jackson’s Production Crew Detail Creating the Underworld

Speaking to ComicBook.com at New York Comic Con, Percy Jackson and the Olympians production designer Dan Hennah (The Lord of the Rings) noted that this show’s Underworld serves as the antithesis of Mount Olympus.

“It was really about [asking], ‘What is hell?’ Hell is nothing,” Dan Hennah said. “I think the thing was to go monotone. To go surreal and have a surreal world. We also architecturally went to the opposite of Mount Olympus. It’s an upside down world, an upside down version of Mount Olympus, but in a very, very distinctive Hades style. It’s like Hades is the architect of his world.”

Like most of Percy Jackson‘s big set pieces, the Underworld was created with a blend of practical and virtual effects. Much of the wider landscape was done on an Industrial Light & Magic Volume screen.

“I mean the underworld is such a beautiful environment in its own way,” ILM VFX supervisor Jeff White said. “It really stands out from the rest of the series and I think there’s a whole design language between Olympus above and Hades environment down below that we embraced for this. But it is a very black and white world and I think that kind of adds to the character of it.”

“We came up with an idea that there isn’t a sky there. It’s basically a massive cavern like on a monumental scale,” VFX supervisor Erik Henry added. “That meant it needed to have a ceiling instead of a sky. What we did is we had mountains that were there and through the clouds you can see that the mountains are kind of bleeding into the sky with this kind of black flow. I said it must be raining upside down because that’s what’s creating that. Black and white yes, but also something that is really arresting the images when you see them.”

Percy Jackson and the Olympians begins streaming on Disney+ on December 20th.