Most bestselling book series start with a real-life inspiration, and Rick and Becky Riordan’s kids were the jumping-off point for the Percy Jackson novels long before it became a new series coming to Disney+ this month. After they found out their son, Haley, had ADHD and dyslexia at the age of seven, bedtime stories about Greek mythology were his saving grace. One night, Rick Riordan found himself thinking up his own stories about the topic, and by writing a story about a kid with his own learning differences who learns he is a demi-god the Percy Jackson series was born.
Ahead of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV show hitting Disney+ next week, CinemaBlend spoke to the Riordans about bringing Percy Jackson’s ADHD and dyslexia to the series since Rick Riordan co-created the adaptation and the couple both serve as producers. Here’s what Rick told us:
It's always been our mission since it was a bedtime story for our son that Percy is a kid with learning differences and that informs who he is. He's feeling really down about himself, but he learns that your differences are actually strengths. They're what can make you into a hero. So we needed to honor that. It's core to what this series is.
It may have been almost 20 years since the author was inspired by his son, as he detailed on his own website to write the Percy Jackson series, but as he told us, it’s still very much at the “core” of the story. Becky Riordan expanded on how Percy Jackson’s ADHD and dyslexia were brought to the series, saying this:
You do have to be a little cautious when you're talking about Percy's perspectives, so it doesn't feel like the adults are gaslighting him. Like, ‘Oh, you're not seeing that. You know?’ And when they might do that, they are doing it probably to protect him. So you have to make that clear. And so that is one of the ways, because I think a lot of times kids that learn differently, they feel like people are gaslighting them. So it was important to make it feel authentic, and I think that we've done a really good job doing that without making it preachy or anything like that.
As a longtime fan of the Percy Jackson books, I’ve seen the first few episodes of the series and can say that the Riordans’ involvement made all the difference in staying true to the spirit of the books. Walker Scobell leads the Percy Jackson cast as the young demigod as he grows up seeing letters in a jumbled fashion along with noticing the many creatures from Greek mythology around him.
While he’s written off as a “troubled” kid, the fantasy of the story helps Percy come to learn that what is written off as problems to some, is actually proof that he’s a child of Poseidon. Rick Riordan continued to talk about the topic during our interview (which you can watch in the video above):
I hope so. I mean, one of the things is to acknowledge that the kids have learning differences or other kinds of differences that sort of inform them, but then to move past that and say, ‘Okay, so if that is a true thing, let's move on’. And how are you going to find a way to be successful and be your true self? One example is, for instance, we had a lot of conversations about the language that we use in those first couple of episodes around learning differences and not making this, as Becky likes to say it, like the Ugly Duckling story, that, ‘Oh, you're not okay right now, and we are going to change you and make you perfect’. No, that's, that's not what this story is.
The Riordans were very careful about correctly representing learning differences in the fantasy series. Becky Riordan also said this:
Percy is Percy from the beginning of the story to the end of the story. He's still the same person. He just comes to accept himself and those around him and sees his place in the world. And it's not about changing him. He's just fine the way he is. And, we really do want people, not just kids, people to come away with this, with that message. You don't need to change.
The first two episodes of Percy Jackson and the Olympians will premiere for those with a Disney+ subscription and Hulu subscription on Wednesday, December 20 on the 2023 TV schedule. More episodes will come out weekly on Wednesdays.
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