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Walker Scobell in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. (Photo by Disney+)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is ready for another battle.
The Disney+ TV adaptation of Rick Riordan’s award-winning young adult series about the titular tween demigod (Walker Scobell) and his encounters with Greek gods has been given a second season. This chapter will follow the events of the second book, The Sea of Monsters, which finds Percy and his friends at Camp Half-Blood under attack. A journey to the Bermuda Triangle ensues.
Co-creator Jonathan E. Steinberg promises that, this season, “we are definitely going to see Olympians. I think part of the show is really exploring that family and treating it that way.”
But he also knows that there’s a casting concern. The late actor Lance Reddick played Zeus in the first season.
Lance Reddick as Zeus in Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+. (Photo by Disney/David Bukach)
“In terms of Lance, I don’t think anybody’s there yet,” Steinberg said. “I think we have a minute, I think, there’s also such a little bit of denial maybe that that’s something that we’re going to have to deal with. But we’re incredibly grateful for this character that he helped build and this presence that he created, and I do not envy whoever ends up having to step in his shoes.”
As far as how far along the writers are on the second season, Steinberg said “I think we can say that there’s a couple of scripts. They’re in really good shape.”
“I think each [book’s] its own animal,” he said on adapting the novels. “I think you sort of have to meet the story where it is. I think in terms of pacing and where episode breaks come, it’s a little more art than science, I think. I think you’re just trying to kind of feel for those inflection points that do what the end of an episode of TV should do, I think, which is end and begin simultaneously and give you a moment of feeling like at 11:30 at night all you want to do is hit the next one and watch the next one. So it’s a hunt for those things, I guess, and then trying to build everything else around it.”
91%
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Season 1
(2023)
currently airs on Disney+.
After the ratings success of The Golden Bachelor, ABC announced that the inevitable The Golden Bachelorette will premiere this fall on ABC and Hulu.
As far as casting someone from the Golden Bachelor to star in this show, producer Jason Ehrlich said “we have a true wealth of options here with the women from this season, and what has worked for us before in The Bachelor is having someone return … So we see ourselves doing that, but we do not yet have an option of who it’s going to be.”
He also was dodgy on whether the new show’s success may spawn other twists on the franchise, like opening the show up to queer leads and/or people in their ’40s and ’50s.
“Look, love is universal,” he said. “That’s what’s so wonderful about it. That’s why these stories really resonate. And, so, I think we really learned on The Golden Bachelor that we can tell different stories, and I think it’s encouraged us to continue looking. I think there’s a lot of different stories out there to tell, love stories, and the frustrations of not finding love.”
The Bachelor producers, from left, Jason Ehrlich, Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner. (Photo by Disney/PictureGroup)
He and other Bachelor producers didn’t give a clear answer to a question about the franchise’s missteps and scandals involving seasons with leads who are people of color.
“I mean, I can speak to where we are now,” said Bachelor producer Claire Freeland, who, joined the franchise in 2023 upon the departure of creator Mike Fleiss. “Our goal is to represent the fabric of the country, not just with respect to diversity and ethnicity but also with ability and body types and representing where people are from in the country as well. And I think that, again, I can speak for the seasons that I’ve been here with this team. I think, so far, we’re kind of putting our money where our mouth is and demonstrating that. So, hopefully, audiences are feeling that because it’s something that we’re always working on and we’ll continue to do so as we go forward.”
(Photo by Casey Durkin/Getty Images)
Former Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik‘s apparent dismissal from the game show in December caused a stir around the internet, making fans wonder if it was tied to May decision to side with the writer’s strike and not participate in that season’s final week of filming or to her vocal commentary on the Israel-Hamas war. Prior to May, Bialik had been rotating as host with Ken Jennings, a former Jeopardy! champion and fan favorite. Jennings is now the sole host of the syndicate program.
Journalists asked Michael Davies, who became executive producer of the franchise in 2022 after Mike Richards left and, about this employment change. He answered, in a form, to the question.
“When I took over the show, we were really forced into that situation from everything that had happened before, the guest hosting period,” he said. “Mayim was left hosting the primetime versions. I brought in Ken to guest host because Mayim had her schedule [with] her Fox sitcom, [Call Me Kat] so couldn’t host all the episodes.”
Although Kat has since been canceled, he added that “over the past two and a half seasons, I think what we’ve heard a lot from our television stations and other interested parties is they were looking for more consistency. They wanted a single host.”
“Mayim is a superb host on Jeopardy!,” he said. “We hope to continue working with her on primetime versions, other spinoffs of the show. Those conversations are ongoing, but Ken has really won the job to go and be the syndicated show and to make a program where our greatest of all time — literally, the GOAT on Jeopardy! — gets to host it.”
Jeopardy! executive producer Michael Davies. (Photo by Disney/PictureGroup)
He also had some thoughts on his predecessors’ decision to not honor the wishes of late host Alex Trebek, who died in 2020, and install Laura Coates as host.
“Jeopardy! … is a television program that exists in prime access in much of the country that puts out facts on a daily basis [and] s a program where people tend to agree about the facts, which I think is important,” he said. “And I think the show has a duty to represent everyone. And the talent on the show, beyond the host, is also the contestants on the program, the categories that we feature, the questions we write about. It has to represent everything that’s great about this country, including its diversity.”
However, Davies added, “Jennings happens to be the greatest Jeopardy! player of all time. And that is a significant thing.”
“With emergence of players like Juveria [Zaheer] and Ryan Long … we’re seeing diverse players start to perform extraordinarily on the show, as it’s starting to affect representation in that way,” said Davies. “I think, as you see a spinoff [and] more versions of the show, you’re not going to see the same regular people come there. I think you’re going to see us continue to expand the idea of what a host and who the host should be and can be on this program. And I regard it as one of my chief responsibilities particularly because of the nature of Jeopardy! and the nature of our game.”
Jennings also returns to host another season of Celebrity Jeopardy!. The tournament-style season will air this spring.
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