Chatting with the Creative Team Behind ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’

While at New York Comic Con this year, I spoke with Jon Steinberg (Showrunner/EP), Dan Shotz (Showrunner/EP), James Bobin (Director/EP), Dan Hennah (Production Designer), Tish Monaghan (Costume Designer), Erik Henry (VFX Supervisor), and Jeff White (ILM VFX Supervisor) about making Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

The series will debut December 20 on Disney+ with a two-episode premiere, followed by weekly episodes.

Percy Jackson is on a dangerous quest. Outrunning monsters and outwitting gods, he must journey across America to return Zeus’ master bolt and stop an all-out war. After losing his mother, Percy is sheltered at Camp Half-Blood, a sanctuary for demigod children. He must prove himself and confront his origins once he discovers he too is a demigod, and will take off into the perils of pursuing enemies in search of the Underworld. With the help of his quest mates Annabeth and Grover, Percy’s journey will lead him closer to the answers he seeks: how to fit into a world where he feels out of place, if he’ll ever see his mother again, and if he can ever find out who he’s destined to be.

We discussed adding to the legacy of Percy Jackson, seeing all of the fans at the NYCC panel, what they were most excited to see come to life from the books, working with the trio, and more. Keep reading for my full interviews!

I love that this series is not only going to bring the story to fans in a new way, but a whole new generation as well with new actors who are going to bring these beloved characters to life. Can you talk to me a little bit about the significance of that as well as adding to the legacy of Percy Jackson and what that means to you? I mean, this is a name everyone knows.
Jon Steinberg: Yeah, I mean, I think coming into an adaptation like this, there are choices you make that you don’t necessarily make in the same way when you’re writing a book. I think for us, and for Rick and for Becky, it was just really important that something that so many people have looked forward to for so long felt like everyone had a place in it and that it was for everyone.
Dan Shotz: I think it’s pretty amazing to just be a part of this universe. When you just hear how fans feel about this, you want to deliver for them. And so, while it’s not necessarily pressure, it’s that responsibility to make sure you’re giving them what you want, but also, for us, just being true to the story to the best of our ability.

Erik Henry: Let me tell you, when I first heard from Jon and Dan that they said, “They want you to do the show,” I felt really honored. You know, just like in some of the other iconic book series that have come to life, that have come to the screen, it’s an honor and it’s also a real sort of responsibility because we knew going in that Rick really wanted us to have his take for it and I think when you walk out on that stage and you hear them and the response, you kind of go, “Okay, I think it all worked.” Someone asked me that question, how did you feel about that? And I go, “Well, sometimes you don’t know,” we’re working a little bit, bouncing things off of each other, but you need those fresh eyes and adoring eyes to tell you, “Yeah, you hit it.” At the end, Jeff and I were kind of overcome by the fact that people came up to us, to the stage, and said, “You got it right. This means so much to me, I was reading it when I was young, and I’m watching this, you got it right.” So yeah, that was pretty amazing.
Jeff White: We both worked in the industry for a long time, and I think the number of chances you get to work on a franchise that’s this big, I mean, you could probably count on one hand the number of properties that have this kind of appeal across so many different age ranges. I think that’s, to me, what’s so exciting, especially because I’ve worked on so many things my kids can’t watch, and now I feel like, okay, this is the one that they’re gonna love. Adults are gonna love it, it really is one of those stories that I think appeals to so many different people and it’s such an honor to be able to work on it.

James Bobin: It’s exciting because, you know, the book, I want them to feel like they did in 2005 [when they] read the book for the first time. That’s important to me because I can’t assume everyone watching the show knows who he is. I can’t, you have to assume people don’t know necessarily who Percy is, what he means, what the story is because if you don’t know, this is going to be amazing. I often feel envious of those who don’t know the story because this going to be a great journey for you. It’s a great experience, so I’m very careful about making sure that people who know it inside [and] out are happy, but at the same time, people who have got no idea about the show will enjoy it and they should because it’s so fantastic. So that’s very exciting.

Tish Monaghan: To me, it means the world. I’ve got a granddaughter that’s 12 and already loving it. Before I even had my interview, I purchased the illustrated copy of Percy Jackson and the Olympians and it was an illustrator chosen by Rick, so I knew that the imagery in there had been approved by him. I gave a copy of that book to my granddaughter and she was just going crazy with it. On a side note, I had visits with my physiotherapist for a nagging back issue and he has children, and he said, “Oh, what are you working on?” I said, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” and he said, “Well, what’s that?” Well, now he’s got his kids completely into it and he was reading the books with them every night, and I think just the reaction that I’m getting from those people that I know, it’s very special to me because when you look at the books, they’re like 20 years old now and the trailer was shown, there are reactions on YouTube, and you have fans that read the books and that are now in their possibly late 20s, early 30s and will be watching. It means so much to them and I think the positive reception that it got in the media makes me feel so proud, and even just being here at Comic Con and feeling the reaction of the fans when we were all introduced, it just warmed your heart.
Dan Hennah: I have twin 13-year-old granddaughters, same world. They love it and I mean, for them, it was hugely exciting that I took this job. But for me, it was exciting because, after the first reading of the script, it became obvious that we were very much dealing with Rick’s books in a really true sense, true to the canon as much as possible and it means a lot. Also, Rick’s sort of approach to the whole thing about growing up, problems, and you know, things like dyslexia and ADHD, which are very, in a sense in my world, they’re quite new things, I mean, they were around when I was a kid, but no one had a name for them. So, identifying the kids I was at school with who had these problems and they’re still having them, and so he does that so well. It was a great opportunity to then dive into his world and bring some fantasy, bring some sort of whimsical designs, not to lighten it up in any way, but to make it larger than life.

What was it like to be on stage and hear the reaction from fans during the packed panel? Did it make you realize just how anticipated this show is?
Bobin: Yeah, you could really feel the love for it and that’s nice because we on that stage have a similar feeling for it, and it’s what we’ve been doing for the past two years. We’ve been trying to, with love and care, recreate this place and this world, these characters and so, to see it recognized by people in the room was just magical because we’ve been doing this in a kind of bubble by ourselves for a long time. So to share it was just fantastic and it was really kind of moving to watch it happen in front of your eyes. It was really great.

Seeing stuff from a book come to life on screen is just magical. I think that’s one of the coolest parts of the process. Is there any moment while you were filming that you were like, “Oh my gosh,” while making something come to life, whether it was a character, a set, or an event, anything that you can tease or are excited for fans to experience?
Steinberg: I think the first time seeing Chimera in a way in which it felt alive was pretty remarkable. I think that was something we had very high hopes and aspirations for, and seeing it come to be real… I’m excited for people to get there.
Shotz: For me, it was the three kids, like just seeing them work together, seeing them bring these iconic characters to life, it was why we’re doing this. Those real emotional stories, the ties and binds that they have to each other in the story, seeing all of that was… I got chills when we first saw them all together.

Monaghan: I think for me, seeing all the kids out there at Camp Half-Blood engaging in their first battle with their armor, with their helmets, and their swords, and just going at it. We were blessed with a really great group of stunt kid actors that were phenomenal.
Hennah: For me, it was, I think, the design of Hades’ Palace, inside Hades’ Palace. The first time I saw it was for real, was on the volume, so it was full LED volume over the top and around the side and suddenly you were in the palace. The floor was there, it was reflecting the walls, and it was all very real. 

Bobin: Well, Capture the Flag is a massive deal. Everyone I know who reads these books wants to be in that world and be part of Capture the Flag. So, making Capture the Flag is a thing that you can watch and pretend you’re there, that’s kinda great. It’s awesome.

I am a firm believer that every project you do can teach you something professionally or personally. Is there a challenge tied to this one that surprised you or is something you think you will use in the future?
Henry: I think, for me, it was understanding that young actors, like the three that we have, can be as good as they were. I mean, they came to work every day, they knew their lines, and just absolutely never a moment did they complain. What I take away from that is, I really haven’t worked with young actors a lot or in a long time, and I just felt, wow. The professionalism that they show at 13 years old and 16, in the case of Aryan, but that professionalism is something that stunned me, and I think we all kind of just felt that. We talked about Grover, Aryan learned to stand on his tiptoes, and we would watch dailies and watch this kid with no prompting, they’d go, “Okay, roll cameras,” and up he’d go, every time, to walk in the way that he’s supposed to walk. Just really astounding.
White: I’d say, when you see a show like this, at this scale, there’s so much pressure, it’s such a huge show, and that’s when you realize it really is the other people that you work with. I think that all the affection you see all of us have for each other on stage shows up in the work that’s on the screen, and to me, that was the best part of the show was everybody that was involved.
Henry: The friends you make.

The trio is such a talented group of actors. I’m so excited to see their takes on the characters and for audiences to see what they bring to the table. Is there anything you can say about working with them or just what they did in terms of the story?
Bobin: They’re magical, they’re fantastic kids. We got Walker straight off the bat. He was the first person we cast because he was Percy in character and out of character, and he felt like him, like the guy, you know him, it’s him. And so, when you have that, it’s such a beautiful gift. Beyond that, Aryan and Leah came together and it just felt like a perfect team because they have different strengths. They are not the same person, saying the same lines. The characters have lines only they could say, which is the most important thing about any character. But they work together so beautifully and so well and they change with time. There’s little bits of Percy and Annabeth together moments I put in, you’ll see, they’re there because I know [how] it’s going to go. It’s really important that we set that up because, at the beginning, there’s a kind of antithesis between the two of them, but long term, it’s going to be different. That’s all I can say. But yeah, so we put bits in like that, which you will notice. As a fan, you’ll notice. You’ll see it.