San Francisco and Vancouver–Production is underway in Vancouver on the ambitious upcoming
Disney+ Original series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, based on Rick Riordan’s best-selling
novels, on a newly built state of the art Stage Craft LED stage, the first of its kind in Canada. The
stage was built through a partnership with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and 20th Television
which is producing the eagerly anticipated Disney Branded Television series for Disney+.
Explained by executive producer and author Rick Riordan, “The story of Percy Jackson has
such an epic scope, I was crossing my fingers we would be able to partner with Industrial Light
& Magic. “That was really the only way to do the adaptation justice and bring our visions to life.
I am over the moon that we have forged such a great relationship to give this show such a
cutting-edge look and feel. I’m sure the Olympian gods would expect nothing less!”
“The 20th Television team and the series producers clearly saw the value that ILM StageCraft
brings to a production and understood it to be a perfect fit for a series like Percy,” said Chris
Bannister, executive producer, ILM StageCraft. Jeff White, creative director for ILM’s Vancouver
studio, added, “With ILM’s StageCraft technology we allow filmmakers to design, light, and
shoot the digital world as they would in the practical world all integrated in front of the cast and
crew on stage. It opens up an amazing range of possibilities right before their eyes.”
“Working with the team at ILM has been a dream,” said 20th executive vice president of
Production Nissa Diederich. “The fans of this franchise have high expectations for the series
and we knew that we needed the most advanced production technology available, and who
better to partner with than Industrial Light & Magic? The stage we have built will be home
to Percy and potentially dozens more of our most ambitious series. It really says to our creators,
the sky’s the limit – if you can dream it, we can shoot it.”
Based on Disney Hyperion’s best-selling book series by award-winning author Rick Riordan,
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod,
Percy Jackson, who’s just coming to terms with his newfound divine powers when the sky god
Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover and
Annabeth, Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to
Olympus.
The series will star Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson, Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood
and Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth Chase. Previously announced guest stars include Virginia
Kull as Sally Jackson, Glynn Turnman as Chiron aka Mr. Brunner, Jason Mantzoukas as
Dionysus aka Mr. D, Tim Sharp as Gab Ugliano and Megan Mullaly as Alecto aka Mrs. Dodds.
Riordan and Jon Steinberg serve as writers of the pilot, and James Bobin directs. Steinberg
oversees the series with his producing partner Dan Shotz. Steinberg and Shotz also serve as
executive producers alongside Bobin, Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Bert Salke, Monica Owusu-
Breen, Jim Rowe, Anders Engström, Jet Wilkinson and The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-
Vein, Jeremy Bell and D.J. Goldberg.
