Percy Jackson and the Olympians continues its mythical momentum. The series is already deep into production, as it is currently in its third month of production in Vancouver, but took the time last week to celebrate the titular character’s canonical birthday. Author Rick Riordan, star Walker Scobell, and even the Empire State Building itself celebrated August 18th with official images, appropriately blue cupcakes, and an Olympus-style light show. Even with all those gifts, one present was notably absent: a first look teaser trailer. That’s because despite having “through chapter nine” of The Lightning Thief shot, it’s still “way, way, way too early” for footage to be revealed to the public. With birthday celebrations in the rear view, the Percy Jackson cast and crew are back in the production driver’s seat.
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Ahead of a highly-anticipated shoot, Riordan took to Instagram to share a behind-the-scenes image of his producer’s chair. “Just another manic Monday on set with Percy Jackson!” Riordan wrote in the caption. “A beautiful sunny day – there are worse ways to start the work week!”
While this particular image doesn’t reveal anything new from the live-action serialized adaption of Riordan’s best-selling novels, it does kick off what is set to be a big week for Percy Jackson. Mink Golden, the working title for the show, films at Westminster Pier Park in New Westminster, British Columbia today.
The NOTICE OF FILMING sheet notably reveals that an “aerial drone” will be used during the shoot, which has many speculating that this could be the Gateway Arch scene from The Lightning Thief. Fans of the book that this first season is based on will recognize the famous St. Louis monument as the sight of Percy’s battle with Echidna and the Chimera. Despite being one of the more cinematic scenes from the novel, this moment has yet to see the light of day in live-action as the 2010 film adaptation did not include it.
The Arch comes in Chapter 13 of The Lightning Thief, which lines up with where the series is at production-wise. Despite being “through chapter nine” as of August 13th, Riordan has stressed that filming is not always sequential.
“Day to day, we don’t necessarily film in strict chronological order,” Riordan wrote earlier this month. “If, for instance, there are scenes that happen on a city street in two different episodes, we may film them at the same time because it is more efficient that way.”
There’s a good chance that chapters 10-12 will be filmed at a later date rather than scrapped altogether. Chapter 11 welcomes Medusa into the fold, and recent set videos indicate that the snake-haired lady will make her presence felt in this series.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is currently in production and is without a release date.
