Rick Riordan “wrote off Hollywood” after being left frustrated by the Percy Jackson films.
The 59-year-old author has never watched either of the movie adaptations of his work – Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters – and refused to consider other takes on the books as the flicks had deviated from the source material so much.
In an interview with Variety, Rick said: “After the movie experience, I basically wrote off Hollywood for a long, long time. I really didn’t want to have anything to do with the film industry.”
“There were many years of me saying, ‘I don’t want to engage. I don’t want to think about other adaptations. I’m done.’”
Percy Jackson is now returning to the screen in a Disney+ TV series that will premiere in December and Rick ultimately relented on his anti-adaptation stance.
He explained: “But when it started to become clear that something was going to happen with me or without me, I had a long talk with Becky, my wife. We said, ‘Well, if something’s going to happen, it’s probably best to give it one more shot.’”
READ MORE: The Worst Movies Based on Good TV Shows
The new TV series features Walker Scobell as the titular young demigod alongside Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri and Rick is convinced that the small screen is a better fit for Percy Jackson.
The writer said: “My feeling was always that television was the better format for Percy, because it allows us a larger canvas to tell more of the story.”
“And to be more faithful to the source material, which is what the fans of the books really would love to see.”
Rick felt that one of the “fundamental mistakes” made in the movies was to age up the main characters but he couldn’t be more pleased with the trio that will lead the TV show.
He said: “Having been through the production process, I totally get why they did that. It’s much easier to work with older actors.”
Rick added of the new cast members: “They’re perfect, and they’ve only become more perfect.”
The 13 Best TV Shows With Huge Casts
Sometimes all you need to make a great TV show is an enormous number of actors.
Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky