Move over, Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen — Percy Jackson is here.
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” premiering Dec. 20 on Disney+, is based on the bestselling fantasy book series by Rick Riordan. It first arrived in 2005 as part of the young adult fantasy boom that included “Harry Potter,” “The Hunger Games,” “The Mortal Instruments” and “Twilight.”
Created by Riordan and Jonathan Steinberg (“Black Sails”), the series follows the adventures of 12-year old Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell, “The Adam Project”), as he learns that the strange events that he’s been experiencing during his New York City childhood don’t mean he’s a troubled kid, as his teachers have said — it means that he is a “demigod” who is secretly the son of the Greek god, Poseidon (Toby Stephens).
“I started reading the books in third grade. I’ve read them seven times, including while we were filming,” Scobell, 14, told The Post.
“The support from the ‘Percy Jackson’ fan base has been insane, in a good way. They’re great. My favorite part of all this is the acting part. I really love ‘Percy Jackson,’ and I’m excited for everyone to see it. I’m pretty nervous, to see how everyone will handle it, but I’m mostly excited.”
When Percy gets sent to “Camp Half-Blood,” where other children of Greek gods are, he meets new friend Annabeth (Leah Jeffries) and he learns that his other friend Grover (Aryan Simhadri) is secretly a satyr, disguised as a fellow pre-teen boy.
“It was the second book series I ever read,” said Simhadri, 17. “It got me into reading, and it left a huge impact on me. So, I’m glad that I get to be part of this world. I think we’ve made something that we would want to watch, too, as fans of the books. That was our biggest goal, going into this, and I’m really glad with how that turned out.”
Before this series adaptation, “Percy Jackson” was adapted into a 2010 movie starring Logan Lerman and Alexandra Daddario.
“We’ve all seen the movies. I have not met Logan Lerman. I would love to, someday,” Scobell said. “I’d love to get his take on how he played Percy Jackson. That would be pretty cool,” said Scobell.
Jeffries, 14, said that she took inspiration from “Miss Alexandra,” referring to Daddario.
“I watched how she did certain things, like when she was sword fighting,” she said. “On top of that, I saw how the connection was, later on in the story — when the friendship builds in the trio. I want to keep that energy from how good she was [in the movies] and bring that into the series, and not just completely change it because I’m a new person.”
As the story unfolds, Percy and his friends end up going on a quest to locate Zeus’ lightning bolt. The cast is rounded out by Jason Mantzoukas as “Mr. D,” or Dionysus, the grouchy director of the camp; Adam Copeland as Ares; Megan Mullally as Percy’s math teacher who is secretly one of the Furies serving Hades; Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hermes; the late Lance Reddick as Zeus; and Jay Duplass as Hades.
Among the heavy-hitters in the supporting cast, the young stars had a favorite.
“Jason Mantsoukas,” said Simhadri.
“There’s a scene I got to do with him, and I was so nervous to meet Jason. He’s one of my idols [and] he’s a comedy legend. I was stuttering over my words, but he was so welcoming. He is the most naturally funny person I’ve ever met in my life, it’s terrifying. Every take, he would just keep going and improv.
“Any time that I got to be around him and learn from him was one of the best days.”
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