Disney+ is trying to make “Harry Potter” a reality with this new adaptation of the Heroic Fantasy novels. Risky bet.
news culture Disney+ is trying to make “Harry Potter” a reality with this new adaptation of the Heroic Fantasy novels. Risky bet.
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While controversy rages among fans of the Harry Potter saga, some may be looking for another universe to immerse themselves in to replace the wizarding school. After a more than questionable adaptation to theaters and mixed success in France, Disney tried its hand at everything by offering a return to the mythological saga.
Summary
- Harry Potter in the Land of the God of War
- A series not to be missed?
Harry Potter in the Land of the God of War
Lovers of children’s literature, heroic fantasy and Greek mythology can’t wait until 2023 to get to know Percy Jackson. Released between 2005 and 2010 (roughly the same time as Harry Potter), these books written by Rick Riordan offered readers the opportunity to immerse themselves in the fantastical universe of Percy and the young Olympians. While living the not-so-quiet life of a simple dyslexic teenager in New York, the story’s hero discovers overnight that he is actually the son of the Greek god Poseidon, and that he is not the only contemporary god. He then has no choice but to join his comrades in the famous Half-Blood colony, where he meets new friends with whom he begins his true journey across the United States.
Between the colonies, his different clans (according to the Greek gods), the superhuman abilities of the demigods, and their young age, Percy Jackson then offers a great alternative to the adventures of Harry Potter. It’s a shame, despite the captivating and varied quality of the character writing, the saga hasn’t really managed to emerge from JK Rowling’s shadow. And it wasn’t the two film adaptations released in 2010 and 2013 that changed the situation…
Indeed, despite Chris Columbus’ presence in the production of the first feature film, they ticked all the boxes that shouldn’t be ticked during this adaptation of the teen novel saga. Actors are too old, stories and characters are barely respected, authors of works are retreating, nothing is being done for the mythological saga to shine on the screen. Fortunately for its fans, Disney decided a few months ago to take control and restart the machine.
A series not to be missed?
The project has been stalled for a while, but Disney just passed its second at D23 last September. With a simple teaser (available in the video player above), the Mickey eared company managed to reassure fans by confirming just that. the Percy Jackson series is still slated for release on Disney+, although a date is still unknown. In less than a minute, the question is to see some decorations befitting the Half-Blood colony and the gods that inhabit it, but above all to catch a glimpse of Percy Jackson’s new interpreter: Walker Scobell.
In addition to donning the colony’s iconic orange t-shirt, the young actor (whom you can find Adam all the time on Netflix) then spends the entire teaser verbalizing the first sentence from Rick Riordan’s book. The message was clear: this adaptation needed to be closer to the original material than any of the previous ones. Since then, Disney has also revealed the names of several other actors, including the original trio, who will be composing Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson), Leah Jeffries (Annabeth Chase) and Arya Simhadri (Grover Underwood). And to prove that Rick Riordan is really involved in the project, the latter provides more or less regular news about the series on his social networks and on his blog. Recently, for example, he returned to the actor chosen to interpret the god Ares, the main antagonist of the first book:
A wrestler, a person who practices the sport of coraiocht. I think that because of some great scenes Adam Copeland filmed for us recently as Ares, the god of war. As they used to say in monster truck rally ads in my youth: “You can pay for the whole seat, but you only need the rims!”
Adam Copelandbetter known for his career as a WWE wrestler than a comedian (although you may have seen him as Ketill Flatnose on the series Vikings, for example), therefore it seems to be a very successful choice according to the writer of the saga. Book fans are already imagining what a confrontation between young Percy, played by Walker Scobell, could provide against such an enemy… The response is at a yet undetermined date, even if we can already imagine it looking forward to early 2024.
From left to right: Leah Jeffries (Annabeth Chase), Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson) and Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood)
