Disney+ Percy Jackson will be missing half of the Olympian gods in Season 1

Producer of the upcoming Percy Jackson and the Olympians series on Disney+ Rick Riordan revealed that six iconic Greek gods will be missing from Season 1.

Riordan, who also wrote the books the streaming series is based on, is closely involved in Disney’s take on his mythological world, especially after the failed attempt to turn his books into a series of films in the early 2010s.

While the trio of main characters have been announced and cast for the project, the actual gods are still a big question. A couple of names like Lin Manuel Miranda and Jason Mantzoukas have joined the project as Hermes and Dionysus respectively, but how far will Riordan and crew go down the rabbit hole of deities appearing in the book series?

Well, it turns out that six key gods will be missing from (at least Season 1) of the Disney+ series.

Six Gods Missing from Percy Jackson

In a blog post on his official website, Percy Jackson and the Olympians producer and writer of the Disney+ series it’s based on, Rick Riordan, revealed that Season 1 of the show will be missing at least six key gods from the books.

Riordan wrote it “As [fans] know from the books … not all twelve Olympian gods appear in book one,” meaning Season 1 won’t include them all:

“I imagine everyone is curious to cast for the other Olympian gods. As you know from the books, if you’ve read the books, not all twelve Olympian gods appear in Book 1, so not all gods will appear in season one, nor are all gods cast yet.”

He noted that “Actors have to be cast based on scripts, and scripts have to be written one season at a time.” He gave the example of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, who “probably not coming until season three,” indicating that it will be a couple of years before that casting happens:

“Actors have to be cast based on scripts, and scripts have to be written one season at a time. Aphrodite, for example, probably won’t appear until season three, assuming we’re lucky enough to get a season 3, so casting is at least 2 -3 years away. Apollo and Artemis, same thing. Hestia, Hera and Demeter probably wouldn’t show up until season five.”

In this blog post, Riordan updated fans on what’s still to come for season one and teased it “the big three [of] Hades, Poseidon, Zeus” must still be announced:

“It’s still coming for this season: the big three, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus. When these parts will be announced publicly, I’m not sure yet.”

Speaking about why he hasn’t considered actors from the original film adaptation for the Disney+ series, Riodain said “many wonderful, talented actors were involved in these films:”

“To answer another question I get a lot, even when I’m isolated from social media: What about actors from the original film adaptations? The answer shouldn’t surprise you if you’ve read anything I’ve said about the films over the last decade, but I says this again: Many wonderful, talented actors were involved in these films.

However, this is “a new start for percy jackson,” and that means “a brand new cast that puts their own spin on the characters:”

“I’ve been pretty open about my feelings about the adaptations, but that’s no fault of the actors, who I’ve enjoyed watching in many other great screen productions. That said, the whole point of being involved with the TV show is to make because this is a completely different production and a new start for Percy Jackson.

That means a whole new cast puts their own spin on the characters, and it’s important for the cast and crew that they have a clean slate to work from. Because of that, there will be no crossover casting between the films and the new TV show. This must be and will be its own thing.”

The long road ahead for Percy Jackson

For fans looking forward Percy Jackson and the Olympians, this news should actually be quite exciting. The fact that Rick Riordan and the team behind the trip through Greek mythology are actually holding things back will only set up exciting things for the future.

They seem to have a plan, and want to trickle out the best parts of this work as the series unfolds over several seasons. This is something that was noticeably absent from the original film adaptations.

Instead of taking this approach and having characters appear when they should be based on where the series is in the source material, the original two films took creative liberties in both the cast and specific plot points.

The Disney+ series appears to be much more faithful to the books written by Riordan, so it’s exciting to see his vision for the franchise come to life, even if it means holding back some big names for later seasons.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians expected to come to Disney+ sometime in 2024.