Where the divine, humanity, and those who fall in between collide, Rick Riordan’s thrilling tale of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” served as a fundamental staple of each of our childhoods.
Captivated by Riordan’s masterful storytelling, readers were left drawn into the epics of Greek mythology from the very first page of the modern-day Odyssey.
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” grossed over 110 million in sales. It was no wonder that fans pleaded for the book to be adapted into a television show or movie” — and in 2010, a film adaptation for “The Lighting Thief” was granted by 20th Century Fox.
However, Riordan claimed to take no part in the film adaptation, because he believed the script was “terrible” and a “lazy attempt to make the script seem hip to teens,” in a Tweet dating back to 2009.
“What’s such a challenge with creating such a popular book and turning it into a film or series is that everyone has expectations about what they will look like. When you’re reading, you can create what’s going on in the book in your head,” junior Natalie Schweitzer said. “Because of that, everyone pictures the same scene differently. As there is the freedom to imagine it however you want; when it’s adapted, you’re just seeing one version of what it looks like through how one person envisioned it.”
The movies, consisting of the first and second books in the series, garnered such immense backlash from fans that the series was abruptly discontinued in 2013.
In 2019, Riordan decided to take matters into his own hands and work with Disney to produce a television series of “The Lighting Thief” that fans know and love.
Initially, the movies faced severe criticism due to the deviated narrative from the books. People viewed them as unrecognizable from the book’s original plot line.
Another main reason was that the movie actors did not accurately reflect the characters described in the books.
“In the books, the characters are twelve, and in the TV series, the cast was closer to that age. It felt more realistic compared to the movies, as they cast much older people,” Natalie said.
Not only were the actors perceived by fans as simply too old for their roles portraying young teenagers, but additionally, the casting choices were seen as contradictory to the preconceived appearances of the characters.
This comment was particularly directed toward the female lead Annabeth Chase. In the books, Annabeth is described with blonde hair, fair skin, and grey eyes; yet in the movies, she is seen with dark brown hair and blue eyes.
Harsh criticism erupted from some who believed that the portrayal of the three main characters should be more accurate to the book descriptions.
“In the books, Annabeth being blonde was important to her character, because it meant that people didn’t expect her to be intelligent, and she was constantly underestimated, so I was disappointed to see that wasn’t included,” Laguna Blanca math instructor Lauren Bedard said.
“Now watching the TV show as an adult, I love the intentionality behind making Annabeth a young black girl because it stays true to Annabeth’s development from a girl who is constantly underestimated to a young woman who earns her place as a respected leader in the series,” Bedard said.
Ironically, Rick Riordan’s own choice in casting also created an uproar among fans — once again, with the casting of Annabeth being a subject of criticism.
Leah Jeffries faced racist backlash for being an African-American individual playing a white character.
This spurred such hate that Riordan had to issue a post entitled “Leah Jeffries is Annabeth Chase.”
In this post, he adamantly championed the actress and called out the blatant racism being addressed towards her.
The series fans also supported the diverse representation Leah brings and shared their support for Riordan’s casting.
“I think many people feel like the cast are all like their characters, which is always good, especially for kids media. If you watch the cast interviews, Leah, Walker, and Aryan are basically just the characters in real life,” senior Grace Trautwein said.
The show debuted on Dec. 19, 2023, and even after a two-month trend of a Rotten Tomato score average above 90%, the show is not without its faults.
“I think that the characters in the show seem less goofy than they did in the books. There have been many instances where it took more time to get to different plot events in the books because they were joking around, navigating events with humor, and they were 12-year-olds who didn’t know what they were doing. It feels like some of that excitement and naivety is gone from the show,” Grace said.
With the announcement of a second season adapting “The Sea of Monsters,” fans eagerly anticipate continuing through the magic of Camp Half-Blood and following the heroes through their journey.
“I’m looking forward [in the Sea of Monsters] to see the characters grow up separately and reunite after their summers apart! I also can’t wait to see how they handle Luke’s redemption arc,” Bedard said.
