Rick Riordan warned producers of the Percy Jackson films that fans would leave in disgust after watching the film.

Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson novels have been some of the most popular book series for young adolescents which introduced them to a grand epic adventure featuring the titular character. The first installment, The Lightning Thief set the stage for the exciting world that Riordan had created and is arguably the best book in the series.

When Hollywood got the rights to adapt the first book, the makers of the film sent the script to Riordan to get his approval. However, the writer was far from pleased and found many issues with the film’s treatment of his material. He wrote a concerning warning to the producers of the film about alienating fans due to the drastic changes that were made to the film adaptation.

Rick Riordan had a Real Concern About Hollywoodizing his Much Beloved Novels

Rick Riordan was not happy with the 2010 adaptation

By the late 2000s, Hollywood had set its eyes on adapting the first book in Rick Riordan‘s much-beloved series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Producers were interested in adapting The Lightning Thief and had a script written and ready for the film adaptation, When Riordan received a copy of the script, he was alarmed by the significant changes made to his material.

Riordan sent a concerning letter back to the producers of the film (which would become 2010’s Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief) about how the drastic changes to the source material would alienate fans. He also warned them by saying that fans would leave the theatres in disgust after watching the film. The letter read as follows (Via The Guardian),

“The script as a whole is terrible. I don’t simply mean that it deviates from the book, though certainly it does that to point of being almost unrecognizable as the same story. Fans of the books will be angry and disappointed. They will leave the theater in droves and generate horrible word of mouth.”

Even though the film became a commercial success, the film was not received well by fans of the book. Disney has now brought the books to the series format that has turned out to be more superior and positively received (compared to the film version) from fans and Riordan himself.

Rick Riordan Praises The Faithful and Varied Approach to The Percy Jackson Series

The Disney+ adaptation has received overwhelming love from fans of the books

Rick Riordan is taking another shot at the most beloved first entry of his Percy Jackson novels, The Lightning Thief with the new Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. While the film adaptation left a lot to be desired, Riordan is all praise for the series format and how it enables the story to be more deep and impactful.

Riordan spoke to Today about his excitement for all the talent involved in the series while also expressing the joy of getting to put all the important facets of the book into the series. He also praised the level of depth and nuance that the series put into the narrative and characterization. He said,

“The acting, obviously. But I think there’s a couple of things. There are some scenes in The Lightning Thief that were never in the movie adaptations, and you’re going to get to see them now finally adapted.

Just from the content level, I think that is pretty exciting. I also think that it’s been really fun to go back and tell the story faithfully, but with additional nuance and additional depth.”

The series has received positive reviews from fans who praised its faithfulness to its source material and the level of creativity in its narrative. New episodes of the series continue to drop every week on Disney+ and the first season will have a total of 8 episodes.