‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ Season 2: All the biggest changes from the books

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 sets its sights on the Sea of ​​Monsters, and just like in Season 1, there are bound to be some adaptation changes to come.

Whether it’s adding new characters or completely tweaking major events in the book, some of these changes from Rick Riordan’s original books fall flat, while others enrich the world of the series. Here are all the biggest changes between Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 and The sea of ​​monsters. We’ll be updating weekly, so be sure to check back for more details on the adaptation.

Episode 1: Grover meets new characters, like Alison Simms.

Aryan Simhadri in ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’.
Credit: Disney/David Bukach

Season 2 starts with Percy having a nightmare about Grover being in danger, just like The sea of ​​monsters do. However, there are a few key differences: Grover is not in Florida, which means we don’t have him show up at St. Augustine Bridal Boutique. (Don’t worry, though, the show isn’t abandoning the wedding dress storyline.) Instead, he’s in the jungle, where he meets a team of demigods like Alison Simms (Beatrice Kitsos). These are new characters who have allied themselves with Luke (Charlie Bushnell) and Kronos, meaning Percy and his team will have even more rogue demigods to face.

Episode 1: Basically everything about Tyson is different.

Daniel Diemer in “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”.
Credit: Disney

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 introduces Tyson (Daniel Diemer), Percy’s Cyclops half-brother. In the books, he is not housed, and although he attends Meriwether College Prep with Percy, no one provides him with additional support outside of school. This changes in the series, when Sally Jackson (Virginia Kull) meets him while volunteering at a shelter, takes him in, and takes him to Meriwether. This means that she and Percy already know that he is a Cyclops, unlike in the book, where the Mist disguises his true nature from Percy.

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I’m always happy to see Sally show kindness and empathy, and I’m intrigued to know if she knows that Tyson is also the son of Poseidon (Toby Stephens). Based on the fact that she told Percy that they might have more in common than they think – hence the “two sides of the same coin” talk – it seems like she has a pretty good idea, giving him more investment in Percy and Tyson’s relationship.

Another big change with Tyson is the way he speaks. In The sea of ​​monstershe has more childish language, because Cyclops age more slowly than humans. Here, however, he looks like any of the other characters. Perhaps this was a case where the book’s dialogue just didn’t translate well to the screen, for fear of infantilizing or stereotyping Tyson. Yet it seems that the loyalty and enthusiasm of the Tyson book carries over to the Tyson show.

Episode 1: The scene of the giant Laistrygonian dodgeball undergoes 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, throwing 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 the way to camp. By moving the scene, the attack ends up replacing the Colchis Bull fight from the book.

While there is still a fiery dodgeball element to the Laistrygonian sequence, it lacks much of the charm of the book version. Gone are the Laistrygonians’ weak disguises, along with badges reading Joe Bob, Skull Eater, and Marrow Sucker. These disguises, along with the high school setting, are a large part of the appeal of Riordan’s series in the first place: seeing Greek mythology transposed into our everyday world. I understand that you want to cram two monster attacks into one due to time and budget constraints, but there’s still a lot of loss when you rip out 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 (Glynn Turman) shooting from Camp Half-Blood. In the series, he is fired because he is the son of Kronos, causing the Greek gods to be wary of his allegiance. The book goes even further: in The sea of ​​monstersChiron’s connection to Kronos makes him one of the prime suspects in Thalia’s (Tamara Smart) tree poisoning. However, he is already fired by the time Luke poisons the tree in the series. Percy sees Luke attack the tree in person, furthering the animosity between the two.

Episode 2: Whoa, there’s a plot of drama between Percy and Annabeth.

Walker Scobell and Leah Sava Jeffries in “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”
Credit: Disney/David Bukach

Percabeth shippers, buckle up, because this episode is causing so much angst. Chiron reveals the Great Prophecy to Annabeth before telling her that she cannot let Percy pursue any quests. Hint that Annabeth plans to sabotage Percy in the chariot race if it comes down to the two of them. Later, she suggests that he go in search of Clarisse’s Golden Fleece (Dior Goodjohn) without Percy. This is all new and it is stressfuladding even more distrust between the two men.

Despite all the new twists and turns in how the quest plays out, the end result is the same: Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson set off for the Sea of ​​Monsters. However, Percy and Annabeth are more at odds than ever, setting a more conflicted tone for the quest to come.

Episode 3: Percy Jackson and the Olympians shows another side of Clarisse.

Dior Goodjohn in “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”.
Credit: Disney/David Bukach

Episode 3 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 makes some changes to Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson’s encounter with Luke aboard the Princess Andromeda, involving new characters like Allison and even having Tyson set off a bomb in a totally badass way.

The biggest change in the episode, however, is that we get more of Clarisse’s point of view as she sets out on her quest. We witness his journey to the Oracle, with his father Ares (Adam Copeland) giving him a ship and a crew of zombies. Unlike the book, it is about losing soldiers from a wide variety of wars, as opposed to just plain Confederate soldiers. For a number reasons… good call, Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

But Ares’ gift is a double-edged sword. He immediately undermines his field experience with soldiers And threatens Clarisse if she fails. Dad of the year, he is not. This scene fuels Clarisse’s insecurities as she approaches her mission, which only worsens as the soldiers repeatedly ignore her.

By the end of the episode, however, she has won them over by promising them a place in Elysium once they die. Is this a check she can In fact species? I’m not sure yet. However, his rousing speech is proof of his burgeoning leadership skills. Plus, seeing Clarisse struggle with the start of her quest is something we don’t talk about much. The sea of ​​monstersbeyond a tense conversation that Percy overhears between her and Ares. This is one of the advantages of a television adaptation that is not a book told in the first person: we can adopt other perspectives. As a result, Clarisse gets more layers in this episode and Goodjohn can really shine as a more prominent member of Percy Jackson and the Olympians‘together.

Episode 4: Percy Jackson and the Olympians gives us flashbacks to Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia’s trip to Camp Half-Blood.

Tamara Smart in ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’.
Credit: Disney/David Bukach

Following in the footsteps of episode 3’s focus on Clarisse, episode 4 continues Percy Jackson and the Olympians‘ tendency to present new perspectives not Percy. This time, we get that in the form of flashbacks to Annabeth’s time travel 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 Cyclops prompts Thalia to decide to seek refuge at Camp Half-Blood, rather than continue living on the road. In Annabeth’s mind, this was the fateful decision that led to Thalia’s death on the outskirts of the camp. If she hadn’t been captured by the Cyclops, Thalia would still be alive.

The actual encounter with the Cyclops plays out differently in the series than in the books, which saw 7-year-old Annabeth rescue the trapped Luke, Thalia and Grover from a Brooklyn-based Cyclops’ house of horrors. This fateful encounter led Annabeth to deeply hate all Cyclops. However, in the series, Annabeth’s anger is directed less at the Cyclops and more at herself for being captured in the first place and slowing down Thalia and Luke. It’s a poignant change, one that emphasizes her survivor’s guilt. It also gives us our first look at Smart in action as Thalia, preparing us for Percy Jackson and the Olympians“Season 3 adaptation of The Curse of the Titan.

Episode 4: Scylla and Charybdis’ fight gives Clarisse a moral crisis.

Just like in the books, Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and Clarisse face Scylla and Charybdis to enter the Sea of ​​Monsters. But the show adds a trolley problem-a twist, thanks to Annabeth’s battle strategy. To overtake Scylla, all Clarisse has to do is sacrifice six of her men, one for each tentacle. Should she knowingly send these soldiers to their doom to guarantee success? Or should she try her original plan of overtaking Charybdis?

Ultimately, Clarisse follows Annabeth’s plan. However, the guilt of sacrificing the members of her crew overwhelms her and she joins them on the bridge. Once again, the depth added to Clarisse works wonders here. It’s great to see that as she grows in prominence, the show gets just as intense in allowing audience members into her inner world.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 is now streaming on Disney+, with a new episode every week.