Demigods, rejoice! The first official trailer for the new Percy Jackson series welcomes everyone to Camp Half-Blood. Not only do we get a glimpse of the camp and Walker Scobell as Percy who is starting his journey as a demigod, but we also get a look into how accurate the series will be to the book.
As a fan of Percy Jackson & The Olympians series who has desperately been waiting for a book-accurate adaptation, I couldn’t help comparing scenes from the book to moments seen in the trailer.
Percy Jackson’s Narration
The trailer starts strong to show they are truly sticking to the books as Percy’s narrates quotes directly from the book. It opens with the iconic “Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood,” which is also the opening line of the book. His entire narration is almost identical to the introduction of The Lightning Thief where he warns the reader about the dangerous life of a half-blood.
Camp Half-Blood
Camp Half-Blood has a simple and known dress code. The orange CHB shirts as well as the leather necklaces are key details of the camp. So when we catch a glimpse of Percy in his own orange Camp Half-Blood shirt surrounded by other campers adorning their own, it’s exactly what we pictured the camp to be like in the book.
Also, we see a leather necklace void of any beads pulled out of a backpack. Then, there is a close-up of the same necklace around Percy’s neck. It’s an iconic shot signifying his newfound life at the camp.
Capture the Flag
The trailer also shows what looked to be the capture the flag scene in the forest. Across a river, Dior Goodjohn steps up as Clarisse La Rue to lead the Ares team in the game. It’s the first look we have of Clarisse looking very intimidating and fierce in armor with her spear in her hand. Like her, the other campers are also wearing armor and armed with their weapons. Even if it is a quick peek of the scene, it looks close to accurate to me. It definitely makes me excited to see the rivalry between Percy and Clarisse.
The Cabins
As Percy is walking through the camp, we also see a few cabins behind him representing each of the Greek gods and goddesses. Although we don’t see all the cabins, we spot the cabins of Apollo, Athena, and Poseidon in the trailer.
The cabin designs don’t necessarily match the descriptions in the book. However, Athena’s cabin (#6) is next to Apollo’s cabin (#7) which matches the camp’s layout where the cabins are set up in numerical order just like in the book. Even if it’s a tiny detail, it still means they are trying their best to be as close to accurate as possible.
Rick Riordan, the author of the series, has expressed how he wants an adaptation that accurately depicts the book. Undoubtedly, he is determined to give it to us. It seems the Percy Jackson series so far is not only receiving the blessings of Rick Riordan and the fans but from the gods and goddesses too.
According to Riordan’s blog post, the owls spotted in the trees were really there while filming at the camp. Talk about perfect timing. He wrote, “I think Athena was giving us her blessing!” And I think so too! While this is only a teaser trailer, I can’t wait to see more of the trio and other book-accurate depictions in the Percy Jackson series.
Read more about the official trailer release here on Bookstr!