Once again, I’ve been sucked into a show meant for preteens.
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” (“PJO” for short) has monopolized my For-You-Page for the past two months. I’ve consumed Percabeth and Trio content like a persassy fattening up for winter, and I refuse to open TikTok, worried my favorite Percy x Not Strong Enough edit has fallen victim to the Universal music purge. One might call this obsession, and frankly, I would agree. But obsessions aren’t always a bad thing.
My “PJO” fixation started in the early 2010s, during the book report fad of fourth and fifth grade. My ADHD, undiagnosed at the time, made reading a near impossible task. So, my mom decided that every night we’d read together, and when “Goosebumps” turned to “Percy Jackson,” we never looked back.
Reading “PJO” at home felt like a safe bubble away from the advanced classes at school. I’d tested into the gifted program, but I always felt behind my accelerated peers, who were speeding through “The Heroes of Olympus,” while my mom was still reading me “The Sea of Monsters.” But in this way, I felt a bit closer to “PJO” protagonists, Percy and Annabeth. My brain worked differently than other kids, and for the first time, I saw my neurodiversity as a blessing.
When my mom and I sat down to watch the first episode of “PJO” in December, I became ten again, experiencing the magic for the first time, and feeling a part of something bigger. That’s exactly why stories like “PJO” and their television adaptations keep me and so many fans coming back. The best stories teach us about ourselves, and the ones we connect with as kids become integral to who we are as people. Stories like “PJO” inspire and empower us, and like coming home, we return to them for comfort as much as guidance.
Even as a steadfast persassy, I’m picturing the shift in my Instagram feed now that “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (“ATLA”) has dropped on Netflix. Netflix’s trailer for the live-action adaptation of the 2000s animated series has received over 20 million views on YouTube, and no, I will not disclose how many of those views are my own. “PJO” and “ATLA” are the beginning of a new wave in reimagined kids’ content, with adaptations like “The Spiderwick Chronicles” and “Dead Boy Detectives” set to release this April. Further on the streaming horizon, we can expect Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia,” which should begin shooting sometime this year.
In this golden age of television, remakes and adaptations can feel like a lazy strategy from streamers looking to profit off of consumers’ nostalgia. However, platforms like Disney+ are proving this isn’t always the case. “PJO” succeeded because it kept both the canon and fan base in mind, without compromising the narrative.
If streamers should take anything into account for future adaptations, it’s that fans aren’t asking for 100% accuracy. Yes, this would be ideal, but in the end, it’s the heart that we care about, that we come back to, and that we hope new generations will look towards.
Words by Alex Armbruster.
Graphic by Caroline Tetlow.