Percy Jackson Stars Gives Update on Production Status and Plot Details

By Liam Crowley

Even though Percy Jackson and the Olympians debuted a teaser trailer this past weekend, the series is far from finished. The live-action adaptation of Rick Riordan's best-selling novels kicked off production in June and is scheduled to shoot in Vancouver until January 2023. Despite the busy months that awaits the show, showcasing 53 seconds of polished footage indicates that Percy Jackson is in a good spot production wise. 

Speaking to FlipGeeks at Disney's D23 Expo, star Leah Jeffries revealed that the series is nearly "halfway" done with filming.

"We're filming the first season. We're kind of halfway, but we're not halfway through it. We're not done filming. We're still in the works of it," Jeffries said. "There's going to be a lot of CGI in this. There's going to be a lot of hard working things we need to do."

This just about lines up with where Riordan said Percy Jackson was at on August 15th.

"How much Percy content have we covered? Put it this way: If you were following along in the book, we have pretty much filmed through chapter nine in The Lightning Thief," Riordan wrote last month. "That's a big chunk of the story, but there is a massive amount of fun and games still to come!"

With 22 chapters of The Lightning Thief to cover, Jeffries' update indicates that the show has filmed a couple of chapters' worth of content since Riordan's update. That said, this Disney+ adaptation will not be a beat-by-beat telling of the events of The Lightning Thief, as executive producer Becky Riordan confirmed there will be non-book scenes created specifically for the show.

Beyond that, recent on-location shoots have alluded to the series already filming scenes from Chapter 13, when Percy battles the Chimera at the St. Louis Gateway Arch. This could be an indication that the show is filming out of order or that some chapters will end up on the cutting room floor.

Jeffries added that similar to The Lightning Thief, this Percy Jackson show will slowly bring the trio together.

"It's going to start from just Percy and then it's going to go into Grover also, and then them together," Jeffries said. "Then that's when we start getting into all the demigods stuff. There's going to be a lot of suspense. I can't wait for you guys to watch it."

Those opening chapters primarily focus on Percy at Yancy Academy, where he battles with dyslexia and ADHD during his daily studies. Scobell revealed that these traits, which are integral to the titular character in the books, will be emphasized in the show.

"The TV show focuses more on Percy's and Annabeth's dyslexia and ADHD," Scobell added. "My brother has dyslexia, and I think this show's going to make him feel better about himself."

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is currently in its fourth month of production, and is tentatively scheduled to wrap in January 2023.

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