Filming is currently underway for the upcoming Disney+ Original series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”
Based on Disney Hyperion’s best-selling book series by award-winning author Rick Riordan, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who’s just coming to terms with his newfound divine powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover and Annabeth, Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus.
The series stars Walker Scobell, who will play the titular character in this epic adventure and Aryan Simhadri (Disney’s “Spin”) and Leah Sava Jeffries (“Empire”) who will play Percy’s friends Grover and Annabeth, respectively. Additional cast includes Virginia Kull, Glynn Turman, Jason Mantzoukas, Megan Mullally, and Timm Sharp who will all have recurring guest star roles. Additionally, Disney recently announced that Charlie Bushnell will play Luke Castellan, Dior Goodjohn will play Clarisse La Rue, and Olivea Morton will play Nancy Bobofit.
Riordan recently updated his blog to provide fans with an update on the filming process. The author said there is about three more months of filming to go and they are pretty much exactly on schedule. You can see an excerpt from the blog below:
We are making good progress on season one! We have about three full months of filming to go, which means we’re pretty much exactly on schedule. The cast and crew are in good spirits, and the shots we see from the dailies continue to impress me. Becky and I are back in Boston for the time being, visiting our sons, doing some home maintenance, checking in on the pets, that sort of thing, but soon enough we will head back to Vancouver to join the gang at the studio. It really is a great bunch of people, and a happy place to work. The only hazard is that a certain Mr. Scobell sometimes likes to sneak up behind me in the producers’ tent and surprise me (he really is the perfect Percy) but so far I have not had a heart attack, so it’s all good.
Riordan also says some of the gods are starting to visit the set and they are about up to Chapter 16 in the book. You can read more below:
We’ve also started to have visits on set from some of the gods . . . Again, can’t give you any hints, but if you’ve read The Lightning Thief, you can probably take some good guesses which gods I mean. Casting news? Nothing I can announce. Good things come to those who wait.
So what’s the process from here? Well, in terms of content, we are about up to chapter sixteen in the book, though as I’ve shared before, we don’t film in strict chronological order. Once a ‘block’ of filming is complete (meaning the principal photography for two episodes) the director of that block begins piecing together the scenes into a director’s cut, choosing which takes they like best for each scene. They then send it to us, the producers, to do a producer’s cut (like a second draft) which eventually goes to the studio for approval. At each step, notes are given, improvements are discussed, changes are made. We have begun that process now for the first couple of episodes, though we have a ways to go. It really is incredible how different two cuts can be of the same episode. If you saw the original “Justice League,” then saw the Snyder cut, you have some idea what I’m talking about. It’s almost a completely different film, right? I have full input in everything that happens, and I have been delighted by the results so far. It’s a huge relief, after waiting so many years and working so hard, to watch a sort-of final product and think, “Oh, thank the gods. This works!”
When I say “final product,” these cuts are still very unfinished. None of the special effects have been added. The music is just placeholder music. 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. Have you ever seen those T-shirts that say “We’ll fix it in post”? I now understand what that means.
Long story short? I am happy with this show, folks. And I think you will be too.
You can read the full blog entry post here.
Filming of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” will continue until the end of the year.
A release date for the eight-episode series has not been announced yet but we may not see “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” premiere on Disney+ until 2024.
Source: Rick Riordan Blog