Why Percy Jackson 3 Didn't Happen: The Rise and Fall of the Movie Franchise

The Unfulfilled Journey of Percy Jackson

The Percy Jackson movies brought Rick Riordan's best-selling children's books to life, but Disney opted not to produce Percy Jackson 3, and instead, created a TV series adapting the novels several years later. The films followed Logan Lerman as the titular Percy, a teenage boy who discovers his father is the Greek god Poseidon. This connection grants him extraordinary abilities and a spot at Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp where young demigods are trained. It also, however, puts him in extraordinary danger from the gods and monsters found in Greek mythology.

A still from Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters features the main cast on the bow of a ship

The first two Percy Jackson movies established the story's opening, but they didn't get the chance to see Percy's journey through to the end. Percy Jackson 3 never happened, raising questions about whether Riordan's series would ever get a full adaptation. Fortunately, years after the disappointing films came out, Percy Jackson was greenlit for a television reboot on Disney+. The plan is for the series, which debuted in December of 2023, to adapt one Percy Jackson novel per season, just as the movies initially planned one movie per book.

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover in the Percy Jackson TV show poster with a green tint

Percy Jackson 2: The Turning Point

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief promised a sprawling franchise in the vein of Harry Potter, but the follow-up squashed any hope of future installments. Percy Jackson 3 never became a reality because the second film, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, proved a commercial and critical disaster. The first two Percy Jackson movies received audience scores in the low 50s, according to Rotten Tomatoes, but all could have been forgiven with better sequels. Sea of Monsters sparked similar criticisms to the original, cementing the notion that the adaptations got Percy Jackson all wrong. With poor pacing and too many deviations from the books, Percy Jackson 2 killed the series for good.

Tyson, Clarisse, Grover, Annabeth, and Percy preparing for a fight in Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

The lukewarm reception to the Percy Jackson movies extended to the box office, where neither film performed particularly well. The Lightning Thief brought in $226 million globally, and Sea of Monsters drew slightly under $200 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). This wasn't much for a series with an already established fan base. And with the actors getting too old to play the series' leads — even after the Percy Jackson movies aged the characters up — it was probably for the best that 20th Century Fox decided to abandon the films.

Grover (Aryan Simhadri) stands in a diner in Percy Jackson episode 5

The Rebirth of Percy Jackson on Disney+

Percy Jackson 3 didn't happen, but the Disney+ TV show gives Riordan's story another chance at a proper adaptation. The author's heavy involvement as an executive producer means the show doesn't make unnecessary changes to the source material, especially if they don't make sense for the story or characters. This has attracted diehard fans of the Percy Jackson books, as there's a gap in the market for a faithful adaptation.

Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson looks up at a statue with a clipboard in his hand in Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

This is likely why a Percy Jackson show appealed to a studio like Disney in the first place. Streamers are always on the lookout for popular IPs, and Percy Jackson has maintained a large readership over the years, with Riordan continuing to publish novels in the same world. Given the way modern TV budgets have blown up, a streaming series can finally do the source material justice. In fact, the Disney+ show can even improve on the Percy Jackson books in a way the movies couldn't.

Percy Annabeth and Grover avoiding looking at Medusa in Percy Jackson and the Olympians