Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Books vs. Series
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is Jonathan E. Steinberg and Rick Riordan's 2023 series, adapted from books by Rick Riordan. It stars Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri and ran for 2 seasons and 16 episodes on Disney+.
From Books Adapted
Which books each season covers
The first two seasons cover the first two books
| Season | Book adapted |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Lightning Thief, book 1. |
| 2 | The Sea of Monsters, book 2. |
| 3* | The Titan’s Curse, book 3. |
| A guide, not an exact match: shows move scenes and storylines between books and seasons. | |
* Season 3 is scheduled to premiere on November 20, 2026. The first two seasons have been released.
The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian, books 4 and 5, have not yet been adapted by the series. Riordan’s later books The Chalice of the Gods and Wrath of the Triple Goddess follow an older Percy during his senior year of high school. The series has not reached those adventures either.
The series starts the story again. The movies The Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters are separate adaptations of the first two books.
What changed from the book
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Zeus’s decision changes Thalia’s story
In The Sea of Monsters, Zeus turns the dying Thalia into a tree to save her. The series keeps her return to human form, but changes why she became a tree. Its season 2 finale reveals that Zeus punished her after she refused to fight for the gods. Chiron has been concealing what happened.
Executive producer Craig Silverstein said the change gives Thalia a reason to resent Olympus as the prophecy becomes more important. It also changes Chiron’s position: he has followed Zeus’s order to lie to the children he trains.
How it was adapted
Riordan helped shape the adaptation at every stage
Rick and Rebecca Riordan worked with the producers on the story, scripts, casting, filming, and postproduction. Producer Dan Shotz said that access let the team ask why Rick had made particular choices in the books. Co-creator Jonathan E. Steinberg described Riordan’s role as helping judge whether new material belonged in the world he had created, rather than ruling out changes altogether.
The books, in order
Details
- Author
- Rick Riordan
- Year
- 2005
- Pages
- 416
- Audiobook length
- 10 hr 2 min
- Narrator
- Jesse Bernstein
- Series
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians, book 1
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson has spent years getting into trouble at school before discovering that the Greek gods are real and one of them is his father. At a camp for their children, he learns that Zeus’s stolen lightning bolt could start a divine war. Recovering it means crossing America with two new friends while trying to understand what has happened to his mother.
Details
- Author
- Rick Riordan
- Year
- 2006
- Pages
- 320
- Audiobook length
- 7 hr 55 min
- Narrator
- Jesse Bernstein
- Series
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians, book 2
The tree protecting Camp Half-Blood has been poisoned, leaving its young demigods exposed to monsters. Percy believes the Golden Fleece can restore it, but the camp sends someone else on the quest. With Grover also in danger, he sets out without permission, accompanied by Annabeth and Tyson, a school friend whose true identity unsettles him.
Details
- Author
- Rick Riordan
- Year
- 2007
- Pages
- 352
- Audiobook length
- 8 hr 48 min
- Narrator
- Jesse Bernstein
- Series
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians, book 3
A mission to bring two newly discovered demigods to safety ends with Annabeth missing. When the goddess Artemis also disappears, Percy follows a rescue expedition that brings rival young heroes and Artemis’s Hunters together. They have until the winter solstice to find her, while a prophecy warns that not everyone on the journey will return.
Details
- Author
- Rick Riordan
- Year
- 2008
- Pages
- 400
- Audiobook length
- 10 hr 31 min
- Narrator
- Jesse Bernstein
- Series
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians, book 4
An entrance to the Labyrinth inside Camp Half-Blood offers Kronos’s forces a way past its defenses. Annabeth leads Percy, Grover, and Tyson underground to find the maze’s creator before the enemy can secure his help. Its shifting passages turn their journey into a struggle to stay together, while Grover searches for signs of the missing god Pan.
Details
- Author
- Rick Riordan
- Year
- 2009
- Pages
- 432
- Audiobook length
- 11 hr
- Narrator
- Jesse Bernstein
- Series
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians, book 5
With the gods occupied by the monster Typhon, Percy and the campers must defend Manhattan against Kronos’s approaching army. Former friends stand among the enemy, and the defenders have little time to prepare the city’s bridges and streets for battle. As his sixteenth birthday approaches, Percy must also confront the prophecy that places the future of Olympus in his hands.
Details
- Author
- Rick Riordan
- Year
- 2023
- Pages
- 288
- Audiobook length
- 7 hr 5 min
- Narrator
- Jesse Bernstein
- Series
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians, book 6
Percy Jackson wants to get through his final year of high school and join Annabeth at New Rome University, but admission requires three recommendations from the gods. Ganymede offers the first in exchange for recovering his missing chalice. With Annabeth and Grover helping, Percy must track down a cup powerful enough to make its theft a problem for all of Olympus.
Details
- Author
- Rick Riordan
- Year
- 2024
- Pages
- 336
- Audiobook length
- 8 hr 38 min
- Narrator
- Jesse Bernstein
- Series
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians, book 7
A week of looking after Hecate’s pets should earn Percy another recommendation for college. Instead, Grover drinks a forbidden potion, wrecks the goddess’s mansion, and accidentally lets the animals escape. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover have until Hecate returns to find her polecat and mastiff somewhere in New York and repair the damage they have left behind.
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