The new TV series based on Percy Jackson & The Olympians is moving along according to author Rick Riordan, with the script mostly complete and filming set to commence in June. Furthermore, the author has revealed in a new update on his website that the first season of the Disney+ show will have eight episodes as it tells the story of Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief. The new live-action adventure series based on Riordan’s set of novels will look to do justice to the story in a way the 2010 movie adaptation didn’t.

While Riordan was not involved in the film and its sequel, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, this time around, he has been completely immersed in the project, from having a hand in the script to producing. This time around, the author has been able to assure fans that the series will stay true to the novels, and his dedication to making the series work has been clear from his constant updates on how things are going.

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While discussing how he has been spending a little time setting up an office in the shoot location ready for the summer on his website, the author then confirmed how long we can expect the show’s first season to be, and that half of it is already complete. He said:

“Script work is also coming along nicely. We have scripts for the first four episodes pretty much done, and are hard at work on the remaining four of season one. The writers’ room continues.”

News of Casting on Percy Jackson is Set to Be Announced Soon

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There is still a long way to go with the Percy Jackson series, but the casting of the main characters has been ongoing for a while and looks set to be announced soon. According to Riordan, although he cannot reveal anything, the three leads of Percy, Grover and Annabeth are almost a done deal, while other cast members are in the early stages of being cast. He said:

The series based on the novels has been in active development for two years now, since Riordan announced that Disney was producing a multi-season series based on his novels, with each season covering one of the titles, starting with The Lightning Thief. Of course, the story was previously released as a movie over a decade ago, but with lackluster critic and audiences reviews, as well as Riordan himself, more or less disowned the film and its sequel. This time around, it looks like everyone will be happier with the outcome, as Riordan has previously shared how excited he is about working on the new version of his stories, and that can only translate across well on screen when the series lands on Disney+ sometime next year.

“Just a guess, I would say we are at least a couple more weeks away from being able to announce anything, and when we do announce the three main leads, we will probably announce them all at once (but that is JUST my personal guess).”