How is Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 different from the books?
"Percy Jackson and the Olympians" Season 2 makes several changes from Rick Riordan's "The Sea of Monsters." Let's break them down.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 is setting course for the Sea of Monsters, and just like in Season 1, there are bound to be a few adaptation changes ahead.
Whether it's adding new characters or tweaking major book events entirely, some of these changes from Rick Riordan's original books fall flat, while others enrich the world of the show. Here are all the biggest changes between Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 and The Sea of Monsters. We'll be updating every week, so be sure to come back for more adaptation breakdowns.
Episode 1: Grover meets new characters, like Alison Simms.
Season 2 kicks off with Percy having a nightmare about Grover in danger, just like The Sea of Monsters does. However, there are some key differences: Grover isn't in Florida, meaning we don't get him running into St. Augustine Bridal Boutique. (Don't worry, though, the show doesn't abandon the wedding dress storyline.) Instead, he's in the jungle, where he meets a crew of demigods like Alison Simms (Beatrice Kitsos). They're new characters who have allied themselves with Luke (Charlie Bushnell) and Kronos, meaning Percy and his crew will have even more rogue demigods to contend with.
Episode 1: Basically everything about Tyson is different.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 introduces Tyson (Daniel Diemer), Percy's Cyclops half-brother. In the books, he is unhoused, and while he attends Meriwether College Prep with Percy, no one gives him any extra support outside of school. That changes in the series, as Sally Jackson (Virginia Kull) meets him while volunteering at a shelter, takes him in, and gets him into Meriwether. That means she and Percy already know he's a Cyclops, as opposed to in the book, where the Mist disguises his true nature to Percy.
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I'm always happy to see Sally get to showcase her kindness and empathy, and I'm intrigued by whether she's aware of Tyson also being Poseidon's (Toby Stephens) son. Based on her telling Percy that they might have more in common than they think — hence the "two sides of the same coin" talk — it seems like she's got a pretty good idea, giving her more investment in Percy and Tyson's relationship.
Another big change with Tyson is how he speaks. In The Sea of Monsters, he has a more childlike speech pattern, as Cyclops age more slowly than humans. Here, though, he sounds like any of the other characters. Perhaps this was a case of the book dialogue simply not translating well to screen, for fear of infantilizing or stereotyping Tyson. Still, it seems like book Tyson's loyalty and enthusiasm carry over into show Tyson.
Episode 1: The Laistrygonian giant dodgeball scene gets a big change.
The Sea of Monsters opens with a monster attack in the form of a deadly gym class. Laistrygonian giants posing as visitors from Detroit sneak into Meriwether and wreak havoc during a dodgeball game, hurling fireballs at Percy, Tyson, and their classmates. Percy Jackson and the Olympians moves this fight scene from Meriwether to Camp Half-Blood, with the Laistrygonians ambushing Percy, Tyson, and Annabeth on their way to camp. In moving the scene, the attack winds up replacing the book's Colchis Bull fight.
While there's still a fiery dodgeball element to the Laistrygonian sequence, it misses a lot of the charm from the book's version. Gone are the Laistrygonians' weak disguises, along with the name tags reading Joe Bob, Skull Eater, and Marrow Sucker. These disguises, along with the high school setting of the scene, are a huge part of the appeal of Riordan's series in the first place: seeing Greek mythology transposed into our day-to-day world. I understand wanting to fold two monster attacks into one due to time and budget constraints, but there's still a lot lost when you rip away one of the defining elements of the book series.
Episode 1: Chiron is fired for different reasons.
Rounding out the biggest changes from episode 1 is Chiron's (Glynn Turman) firing from Camp Half-Blood. In the show, he's fired because he's the son of Kronos, which makes the Greek gods wary about his allegiances. The book takes it a step farther: In The Sea of Monsters, Chiron's connection to Kronos makes him a prime suspect in the poisoning of Thalia's (Tamara Smart) tree. He's already fired by the time Luke poisons the tree in the show, though. Percy sees Luke attack the tree in person, furthering the animosity between the two.
Episode 2: Whoa, there's a lot of drama between Percy and Annabeth.
Percabeth shippers, buckle up, because this episode delivers so much angst. Chiron reveals the Great Prophecy to Annabeth before telling her that she can't let Percy go on any quests. Cue Annabeth planning to sabotage Percy in the chariot race should it come down to the two of them. Later, she suggests she go on Clarisse's (Dior Goodjohn) quest for the Golden Fleece without Percy. All of this is new, and it's stressful, adding more distrust between the pair.
Despite all the new twists in how the quest comes together, the end result is the same: Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson set out for the Sea of Monsters. However, Percy and Annabeth are more at odds than ever before, setting a more adversarial tone for the quest ahead.
Episode 3: Percy Jackson and the Olympians shows off a different side of Clarisse.
Episode 3 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 makes a few tweaks to Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson's encounter with Luke aboard the Princess Andromeda, getting new characters like Alison involved, and even having Tyson set off a bomb in totally badass fashion.
The biggest change in the episode, though, is that we get more of Clarisse's perspective as she sets out on her quest. We witness firsthand her trip to the Oracle, along with her father, Ares (Adam Copeland), gifting her a ship and a zombie crew. Unlike in the book, these are losing soldiers from a vast variety of wars, as opposed to simply Confederate soldiers. For a number of reasons... Good call, Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
But Ares' gift is a double-edged sword. He immediately undermines her field experience to the soldiers and threatens Clarisse should she fail. Dad of the Year, he is not. That scene fuels Clarisse's insecurities heading into her mission, which only get worse as the soldiers repeatedly ignore her.
By the episode's end, though, she's won them over by promising them a place in Elysium once they die. Is this a check she can actually cash? I'm not sure yet. However, her rousing speech is proof of her burgeoning leadership skills. Plus, seeing Clarisse actually struggle with the beginning of her quest is something we don't get much of in The Sea of Monsters, beyond a tense conversation Percy overhears between her and Ares. That's one of the benefits of a TV adaptation that isn't a book narrated in first person: We get to take in other perspectives. As a result, Clarisse gets more layers this episode, and Goodjohn gets to truly shine as a more prominent member of Percy Jackson and the Olympians' ensemble.
Episode 4: Percy Jackson and the Olympians gives us flashbacks to Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia's journey to Camp Half-Blood.
Following in the footsteps of episode 3's focus on Clarisse, episode 4 continues Percy Jackson and the Olympians' trend of showcasing new, non-Percy perspectives. This time, we get that in the form of flashbacks to Annabeth's time traveling with Luke and Thalia (Tamara Smart), daughter of Zeus (Courtney B. Vance), to Camp Half-Blood. A dangerous encounter between young Annabeth and a band of Cyclopes prompts Thalia's decision to find sanctuary at Camp Half-Blood, as opposed to continuing to live life on the road. In Annabeth's mind, this was the fatal decision that led to Thalia's death on the edges of camp. If she hadn't been captured by the Cyclopes in the first place, then Thalia would still be alive.
The actual Cyclopes encounter plays out differently in the show than in the books, which saw 7-year-old Annabeth saving a trapped Luke, Thalia, and Grover from a Brooklyn-based Cyclops' house of horrors. That fateful meeting led to Annabeth's deep hatred of all Cyclopes. However, in the show, Annabeth's ire is directed less at the Cyclopes, and more at herself for getting captured in the first place and slowing Thalia and Luke down. It's a poignant shift, one that emphasizes her survivor's guilt. It also gives us our first look at Smart in action as Thalia, getting us ready for Percy Jackson and the Olympians' Season 3 adaptation of The Titan's Curse.
Episode 4: The Scylla and Charybdis fight gives Clarisse a moral crisis.
Just like in the books, Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, and Clarisse face off with Scylla and Charybdis in order to enter the Sea of Monsters. But the show adds in a trolley problem-esque twist, courtesy of Annabeth's battle strategy. To get past Scylla, all Clarisse needs to do is sacrifice six of her men, one for each tentacle. Should she knowingly send these soldiers to their doom in order for guaranteed success? Or should she try her original plan of getting past Charybdis?
In the end, Clarisse follows Annabeth's plan. Yet the guilt of sacrificing her crew members overwhelms her, and she joins them on deck. Once again, the added depth to Clarisse works wonders here. It's great to see that as she's stepped up in terms of importance, the show has stepped up just as much in terms of letting audience members into her inner world.
Episode 5: Percy Jackson and the Olympians mashes up Circe and the Sirens.
Episode 5 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians mashes up two key encounters from The Sea of Monsters, those with sorceress Circe (Rosemarie DeWitt) and the Sirens. Here, instead of immediately turning Percy into a guinea pig the way she does in the books, Circe tries to keep Percy and Annabeth at her island resort with the promise that she can train them — and the other many demigods staying on her island — to get past the Sirens. Of course, she's lying and merely trying to keep people around to avoid the loneliness she's experienced for centuries.
The end result of the Circe encounter is the same: She turns Percy into a guinea pig, Annabeth saves him, and the two leave the island. But along the way, we get a new perspective on a legendary antagonist of Greek mythology, as well as some fascinating discussion of Percy and Annabeth's fatal flaws. As far as adaptation changes go, I'm not mad at it — especially since we still get to see Percy in guinea pig form.
Episode 5: That encounter with the Sirens looks way different.
Percy and Annabeth's meeting with the Sirens looks nowhere near how it looks in The Sea of Monsters. In the book, Percy plugs his ears with wax and ties Annabeth to the mast, as she wants to hear what the Sirens have to sing. In the show, after some drama about ear wax, Percy winds up on the mast, but Annabeth still falls under the Sirens' spell.
Annabeth's vision differs between page and screen. In the book, she sees herself having a picnic with her father and Luke in a New York that she's designed. The show features a vision of Grover needing her to solve conflict between Luke and Percy, which then gives way to another vision of Annabeth slaying the Sirens and impressing her mother, Athena (Andra Day).
As for Percy's vision? All he says he saw was Annabeth, which grounded him and led him to save her. But if his ears weren't blocked, and the Sirens' songs show you your greatest desire, and all he saw was Annabeth… Then that means for Percabeth fans, this sequence was a treat.
Episode 5: Clarisse and Grover team up against Polyphemus.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians introduces the unlikely team-up of Clarisse and Grover, who try to work together to escape Polyphemus' (Aleks Paunovic) cave. While their partnership isn't something we get to see in the books due to Percy's first-person narration, it's fun to witness in the show. The real switch-up here, though, is the reveal that thanks to his sense of smell, Polyphemus has known who Grover is the whole time. Plus, he's been using him as bait to lure Percy Jackson to his island. That's new territory for the show to tread, so what's Polyphemus' endgame?
Episode 6: Luke crashes the Golden Fleece party.
Several elements of Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2, episode 6 differ from The Sea of Monsters, from Polyphemus planting a decoy Golden Fleece to Hippocampus Rainbow's late introduction. But the biggest difference is undoubtedly Luke's arrival on Polyphemus' island. While he never shows up there in the book, his appearance there in episode 6 creates one of the show's most fascinating moral dilemmas.
In their skirmish with Polyphemus, Annabeth and Percy get separated. He winds up trapped in Polyphemus' cave with Clarisse and Grover, while Annabeth gets injured just outside it. Luke discovers her there and realizes she's dying. The only thing that can save her is the Golden Fleece inside the cave. Percy realizes that if he gives it to Luke, he'll save Annabeth but doom the quest to save Camp Half-Blood. Even knowing that, he does it anyway.
The whole sequence is a show-only creation, but it's a strong payoff to the discussion of Percy's fatal flaw from episode 5: He cares so deeply for his friends that he will always put them first, no matter the cost. What consequences will Percy's choice have as the show heads into episode 7?
Episode 7: The entire Annabeth rescue mission is new.
Episode 7 follows a similar shape to the climax of The Sea of Monsters: Percy fights Luke onboard the Princess Andromeda, and Clarisse, true to the prophecy, flies back to Camp Half-Blood alone with the Golden Fleece. However, the actual events leading up to these broader arcs are wildly different. For one, there's the added element of Percy needing to rescue Annabeth. Plus, Clarisse is actually around for the fight, whereas in the book, Percy sends her to the airport with the Fleece before crossing paths with Luke again.
All these shifts allow for a greater emphasis on ties that bind our group of demigods together, especially the newfound respect and friendship between Percy and Clarisse. As sweet as these changes wind up being, part of me does miss the chaos of Chiron and his Party Pony relatives crashing the boat and saving the day, even if creating a centaur stampede would have been in no way practical from a VFX and budget standpoint. You know what makes up for that, though? Seeing Sally Jackson come back to give Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson a ride back to Camp Half-Blood. Any time she brings out her exasperated demigod mom energy is a good time.
Episode 7: Annabeth realizes the Golden Fleece can save Thalia.
The Sea of Monsters ends with the twist that the Golden Fleece didn't just restore the protective barrier around Camp Half-Blood — it also brought Thalia back to life. However, in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Annabeth gets a vision that the Fleece could accomplish this, adding even greater personal stakes to getting the Fleece back to Thalia's tree as soon as possible.
Fascinatingly, it turns out that Kronos has kept the possibility of Thalia's revival from Luke. But The Sea of Monsters implies that Luke knew the Fleece could bring Thalia back. After all, Kronos wanted her alive again so he could have another child of the Big Three gods with a chance of fulfilling the Great Prophecy. The show's version of Kronos not telling Luke this crucial fact suggests that he doesn't fully trust him, sowing some seeds of discord between Luke and the Titan he's pledged himself to.
Episode 7: Kronos orders a battle at Camp Half-Blood.
Speaking of Kronos, he plays a bigger role in episode 7 because the Golden Fleece speeds up his return from Tartarus (at least, before a very sassy Percy snatches it off his casket). That role includes pushing Luke to fully attack Camp Half-Blood as a new test of loyalty, hinting at a finale battle that isn't in The Sea of Monsters at all. How will this new climax play out in episode 8?
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 is now streaming on Disney+, with a new episode every week.
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