While co-creating the live-action television adaptation of the magical children's book series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” for Disney+, Jon Steinberg looked to several classic films starring brave young heroes for inspiration.
“There were a lot,” Steinberg said, rattling off titles like 1986's “Flight of the Navigator,” 1985's “The Goonies” and 1982's “ET the Extra-Terrestrial.”
“That was a genre that I felt I was exposed to frequently and constantly as a child. …This is not about belittling children in any way. It's just talking to everyone. And that was kind of an unattainable ambition that we set for the show.”
However, when asked about the live-action television series that informed his approach to “Percy Jackson,” Steinberg drew a blank.
“I don't know if I've ever seen anything like that” on television, he said.
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is among a growing number of epic coming-of-age stories that are finally getting the live television treatment in the age of streaming. For decades, the preteen demographic (too old for “Sesame Street” and “Bluey” (rated TV-Y), but not old enough for “Stranger Things” and the original “Gossip Girl” (rated TV-14)) It has even turned to books, animated series and their film adaptations to tell incredible stories designed specifically for them.
Television was where tweens got their live-action fix from light-hearted, multi-camera comedies like “iCarly” and “Zoey 101” on Nickelodeon or “Lizzie McGuire” and “That's So Raven” on the Disney Channel. Live-action adaptations of world-building, teen-oriented intellectual properties like “Percy Jackson,” “Harry Potter” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender” were mostly reserved for the big screen.
That's starting to change.
Those three properties, which had previously been adapted into live-action films (with mixed results), are now having a second life on the small screen more than a decade later.
Executives and creatives offered some insights into what has sparked this resurgence.
For starters, the visual technology needed to convincingly translate these great sagas into live-action has “become much more advanced and much less expensive” in recent years, said Jabbar Raisani, executive producer and director of “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” ” from Netflix. .” He also credits the fantasy sensation “Game of Thrones” with awakening studios to the full potential of television as a storytelling medium.
As television has evolved, audiences' viewing habits and tastes have become more voracious and sophisticated. And kids are no exception, added Ayo Davis, president of branded television at Disney.
“These streaming platforms give everyone the ability to be more expansive and ambitious in the way these stories are told,” Davis said.
“Taking advantage of these epic tales that are full of these great heroic adventures is something that can touch [kids] in a significative way. And having the ability to do it well on a platform that can reach a global audience simultaneously is really key.”
Based on Rick Riordan's 2005 novel, “The Lightning Thief,” inspired by Greek mythology, the first season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” (TV-PG) follows the 12-year-old demigod, son of Poseidon, on a dangerous quest to return Zeus. 'Stolen lightning bolt and restore peace to Mount Olympus.
After premiering on December 19, the pilot episode racked up 26.2 million views in its first three weeks on Disney+ and Hulu, according to the company. The entire debut season has amassed more than 110 million hours streamed, reflecting a demand among young audiences for big-budget live-action television adaptations. (Reports have speculated that “Percy Jackson” cost between $12 million and $15 million per episode. Disney declined to comment on its budgets.)
It seems that companies like Disney, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery, which recently reaffirmed that it is moving forward with a live-action “Harry Potter” series set to debut on Max in 2026, are willing to spend a lot of money on immersive kids. scheduling despite pressure from Wall Street to cut costs in other areas.
That's because, when they work, they have mutual appeal to parents and nostalgic adults eager to reconnect with their childhood heroes.
Research firm Parrot Analytics found that since 2020, demand for young adult programming has consistently outstripped supply, suggesting that such content space is “ripe for further investment,” according to Parrot strategist Brandon Katz.
Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth, left, Aryan Simhadri as Grover and Walker Scobell as Percy in Disney's “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”
(disney)
During its month-long run, the freshman season of “Percy Jackson” was approximately 19 times more in demand than any other show that aired in that window, ranking in the top 2.7% of series in terms of overall engagement. , the research firm found. Disney announced in February that it would air a second season.
“It's arguably Disney+'s biggest, and perhaps biggest, hit outside of the Star Wars and Marvel universes,” Katz said. “The fact that they were able to get a live-action series that wasn't in the Star Wars and Marvel universes to such heights bodes well for them moving forward.”
The new “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (TV-PG) has also shown promise from the start. The latest live-action version of the acclaimed animated series, created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko for Nickelodeon in the early 2000s, was in demand 11.7 times more than the average television show in the month leading up to its debut said Parrot Analytics. .
Since arriving on Netflix on February 22, the show, which centers on a powerful 12-year-old boy who must master the elements of fire, water, earth and air to save the world, has racked up more than 21, 2 million visits. and claimed the number one spot on Netflix's global list of the top 10 English-language TV shows, the streamer reported.
Kiawentiio as Katara, left, Gordon Cormier as Aang and Ian Ousley as Sokka in Netflix's “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”
(Robert Falconer/Netflix)
Despite their significant fan bases, the expensive live-action reimaginings of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “Percy Jackson” were still a gamble for the studios, if previous film attempts are any indication.
M. Night Shyamalan's “The Last Airbender” (2010) was poorly received by fans and critics. And while Chris Columbus' “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” (also 2010) had a sequel and didn't provoke the same level of vitriol, it didn't come close to matching the status of Columbus's first “Harry Potter.” movie.
Adapting the stories to a different live-action medium gave the producers of “Percy Jackson” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender” the opportunity to make different decisions than the filmmakers. This time, for example, the child actors playing the main trio of “Percy Jackson” actually match the ages of the children in the books, unlike the movie, which aged the characters by a few years.
Steinberg said that while it's easy to understand the instinct to avoid certain production complications that arise when casting younger actors, “everything changes the moment you're in a teen story as opposed to a tween and teen story.”
“It just didn't seem like it would be honest if it didn't come out of a child's voice,” Steinberg said.
Raisani also noted that streaming platforms allow creatives to take the time necessary to finish and fine-tune all episodes before the season launches. In linear television, a season of a show typically begins airing before all episodes are filmed and completed.
Because the series was made for streaming, Raisani explained, the “Avatar” team had the “luxury” of being able to go back and modify previous episodes, a key advantage when working on an ambitious project with a complex story and lots of visual effects. .
For example, Raisaini said that a digital double of the high-flying protagonist, Aang, was not ready when “Avatar” began filming. So they blocked out certain scenes during production and inserted the digital replica after the fact.
“That's the benefit of working on a non-linear delivery platform,” Raisani said.
Like linear television, movies also have their limitations.
The creators of Paramount Pictures' “The Last Airbender” and 20th Century Fox's “The Lightning Thief” were tasked with condensing several hours and hundreds of pages of content, respectively, into feature-length films.
The eight-episode seasons of the new “Percy Jackson” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender” allowed the creators to cover much more ground and potentially offer more faithful interpretations of the source material.
“There were so many episodes and there was that depth of character exploration from the original animation,” said Peter Friedlander, director of scripted series at Netflix. “To match that with a live action [TV series] It feels really organic.”
Steinberg speculated that a tender moment in which Percy and his friend Annabeth bond over their blessed and cursed situation as demigods while falling asleep on a train would have been the first scene to be cut if “Percy Jackson” had been adapted into another movie. .
“There would be so many things that wouldn't have fit,” Steinberg said. “The opportunity to really spend a minute and enjoy the emotional story as much as the adventure comes with the format.”
Both Disney's Davis and Netflix's Friedlander said their companies are constantly looking for new teen IP to adapt and are committed to providing a variety of live-action viewing options for that demographic, from feel-good sitcoms to odysseys. captivating
“It's not an option,” Davis said. “We're doing both.”
Times art director Ross May contributed to this report.
