30 Apr – Fans of the "Percy Jackson" franchise will be elated to know that there will be a television adaptation of the said books to be made for Disney+ , and it will stay truer to the books than the previous movies. The news was shared by "Percy Jackson" author Rick Riordan, who announced on his blog and Twitter account that they are casting for their titular hero. "We are looking for an actor who can "play 12." That allows for a range in the actual age of the actor, but the goal is to stay true to the original story and have Percy's character age from 12 to 16 over the course of the TV series, assuming of course we are lucky enough to make all five seasons. That will depend on viewership on Disney+, which is where all of you can help!" he wrote. As for the other characters, Riordan said that they will start with Percy first before the next steps, seeing how important it is for them to create the right chemistry for the actors who will play Percy and his two best friends Annabeth and Grover. Riordan also stated that this would be a preliminary search. "We still have a long way to go before anything is official or confirmed, but this is definitely an indication that things are going in the right direction. We continue to have a lot of positive momentum behind the project and are excited to move forward!"
"Percy Jackson" follows the story of a 12 year-old boy of the same name, who finds out that he is actually a demi-god - Poseidon's son to be exact. He then has to undertake a quest to save his mother from the underworld and prove his innocence after being accused of stealing Zeus' lightning bolt.
The movie adaptation of the first book was released in 2010, and its sequel in 2013 starring Logan Lerman. However, many of the book fans were unhappy with the casting choices and the changes made - including changing the age of the main characters from twelve to sixteen. Riordan himself admitted that he has never seen the movies to keep them from influencing the way he views the characters, and revealed that he decided to step away from the movies after seeing all the deviations made by the studio.