With over 110 million hours* streamed to date, the Disney Branded Television series Percy Jackson and the Olympians was recently renewed for a second season on Disney+. The next chapter in the epic story will follow best friends Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell), Annabeth Chase (Leah Sava Jeffries), and Grover Underwood (Aryan Simhadri) as they embark on a new adventure based on The Sea of Monsters—the second installment of Rick Riordan’s best-selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series, published by Disney Hyperion.
Craig Erwich, President of Disney Television Group, touted the franchise’s success onstage Saturday during the Television Critics Association’s Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif. “During its debut week, Percy Jackson was the No. 1 most-watched episode in the U.S.*, beating established series like The Crown and Reacher. To date, over 110 million hours of Percy Jackson*** have been streamed. This is a transformational show, but these numbers only tell part of the story,” he said. “The show has sparked memes, social conversation—and on TikTok, #PercyJackson received over a billion views**. This show is so popular that the books returned to No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List following its debut.”
Heading into Season 2, Jonathan E. Steinberg—the series’ co-creator and executive producer—said they will follow a similar formula in adapting Riordan’s source material. “I think the goal is to take the book and find its soul, and the things that make the experience what it is for a reader, and then try to plant that in the ground a little bit and let it grow into something else,” he said. “I think we were successful in engineering that in Season 1.”
“People are obviously very excited that we’re keeping very true to the books and honoring Rick’s work,” added executive producer Dan Shotz. “At the same time, they’re as excited about all of the new things that are being brought to this, which is really rewarding for us.”
Steinberg confirmed that “a couple of scripts” have already been written for Season 2, adding that “they’re in really good shape.” However, he noted, “To boot up this machine again is an undertaking. There are a lot of trains leaving the station, all at the same time.”
Wanting to capitalize on the franchise’s momentum, the cast and crew hope to begin production on Season 2 “as soon as possible,” Steinberg said. “I think we all feel the demand and response for people wanting to see more of this. But we want to do it right and make sure that the second season of the show lives up to—or surpasses—the first.”
In the meantime, fans can engage with the Percy Jackson and the Olympians franchise in several other ways. In addition to reading the original book series and its spinoffs, the domino effect of the series’ success has extended into Disney Consumer Products, with Hot Topic launching an assortment of apparel and Barnes & Noble releasing a line of stationery.
The first season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is now streaming on Disney+.
*Source: Internal data
**Source: Internal data based on views in its first 3 weeks streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
***Source: TikTok for Business