Percy Jackson Season 2 Press Conference
The return to the Riordanverse is ever closer as the premiere of Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 on Disney+ is coming. Though fans are excited to finally see more of Percy, Annabeth, and Riordan’s characters, there are still some things that fans are wondering about given how the show adapts Riordan’s stories.
Since there are many new elements coming to Season 2, including the introduction of a new demigod named Alison Simms, fans are questioning what else is being added or removed. One of these aspects is what fans call the “Broken Trio”, the relationship between Annabeth Chase, Luke Castellan, and Thalia Grace.
In Season 1, viewers learned that Thalia was transformed by her father, Zeus, into a tree that protects Camp Half-Blood from monsters. This was because the trio were being hunted down by the Furies as they had been on the run for months, trying to survive on their own. Although this is kept brief in Percy Jackson Season 1, there is a book that goes further in-depth with their backstory.
The Demigod Diaries serves as a companion book to Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series, which consists of multiple short stories set within the realm of Percy Jackson. One of these stories is “The Diary of Luke Castellan,” which recalls how Luke and Thalia met Annabeth for the first time.
Considering how Season 2 will address past events with Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia through flashbacks, fans are wondering if this will be adapted similarly or differently to how they were presented in The Demigod Diaries.
At the Percy Jackson Season 2 press conference, author Rick Riordan shared his word about how he approached establishing this dynamic:
“It’s the same story, the same dynamic, but it hits differently when you see it on the screen,” Riordan began. “I’ve had some people saying, ‘Wait a minute, Thalia’s in this season? She doesn’t appear until Season 3! In the books, you don’t see her in the present day and so it doesn’t really feel like you know her. There are lots of flashbacks in the books, [but] you don’t see them. You’re not living in the moment with them the way you do in the TV show. I think that’s the real difference.”
“I’m satisfied that Thalia and Luke and Annabeth, their storyline is very close to what I originally envisioned,” Riordan applauded. “It’s simply that, yes, Thalia, seeing her in action, the first time she appears, I got chills.”
“It’s like, ‘Wow, this young lady is really, really powerful.’ She is a hero. The way that it hits does make her seem much more present in the series and in the story as a whole.”
Additionally, during the press conference, executive producers Craig Silverstein and Dan Shotz spoke on how they incorporated their own narrative beats when it came to exploring the Broken Trio.
“We thought it was appropriate to be able to dip back and show some of that material, so that you hear [Thalia’s] name a lot,” Silverstein began. “The idea to get to see her, and see her in action, see what she meant, and see her power was one of the first things that occurred heading into the adaptation of this second book.”
“Fans of this story are going to be really excited by seeing that story come to life,” Shotz added. “That’s the benefit of the adaptation, where we can pull from all of these things [and] we can find that story. What happens when we tell that flashback story, it’s really accenting everything that’s happening in the present.”
With the show bringing the history of the Broken Trio to the forefront of this story, it appears that fans can still expect Thalia’s backstory to be a catalyst for the rift between Annabeth, Luke, and even Percy. Due to the fact that Thalia’s presence, and lack thereof, serves as the emotional core that binds each character’s arc more cohesively, Season 2 looks to Thalia as the key for everything.
That belief is made very clear from the previous trailers, where Luke poisoned Thalia’s Tree with his sword to weaken Camp Half-Blood’s barriers. For readers who already know what happens in The Sea of Monsters, they can expect the exploration around Thalia’s backstory and involvement to raise the stakes even higher.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 premieres December 10 on Disney+.
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Christopher Gallardo is a freelance entertainment writer and critic. While not running The Reel Roller, Chris can be found writing reviews and breakdowns on all things films and TV. Outside of entertainment writing, he’s currently taking classes for a Bachelor’s of Science with a minor in Digital Media & Journalism. Plus, he loves Percy Jackson, animated films and shows, and Fallout! Follow Christopher on Instagram & X.