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Disney renewed Percy Jackson for a third season early to avoid a Stranger Things problem
The Percy Jackson show on Disney+ doesn't want its child actors to age too much in between seasons
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When the Percy Jackson and the Olympians cast hit the Hall H stage at San Diego Comic-Con this year, fans were stunned by how much the child actors had aged since we last saw them in season 1 of the Disney+ show, which began streaming in December 2023. With the core cast members now aged 16 (Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries) and 19 (Aryan Simhadri), the window of time for the Percy Jackson show to film while the actors still look roughly the same ages as their characters is beginning to narrow. For context, season 2 of the Percy Jackson show will adapt the second installment of the 5-book original series by Rick Riordan. At the end of the fifth book, The Last Olympian, Percy is 16 years old.
In light of Stranger Things 5 featuring actors who look significantly older than the high schoolers they're supposed to be playing, Disney renewed the Percy Jackson show for a season 3 to get the ball rolling on future seasons. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, executive producer Craig Silverstein joked, “We don’t want Percy with a beard." Instead of two years between seasons, Disney is shooting for a one-year wait period for future seasons.
Now, before season 2 of the Percy Jackson show has even hit Disney+, the show is already in production on its third season. Karey Burke, president of 20th Television, said, “It was wonderful to feel the support to go into production on season three before season two even premiered. We’re going to be able to get season three on in a year — I’m so happy for the fans that they aren’t going to have to wait as long from now on.”
It's also worth noting that the actors' aging isn't the only thing to consider here: the core audience for Percy Jackson is kids, after all. Obviously, there's quite a cross-generational appeal that the show has amongst millennials and Gen Zers who grew up reading the books, along with the Gen Xers and boomers who raised them. But the Gen Alpha kids hooked on the books and the show now will themselves be teenagers in just a few short years. For Disney, it's better to make hay while the sun's out.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2 debuts on Disney+ December 10.
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