Director James Bobin has much to live up to when making Percy Jackson and the Olympians for Disney+. From the meteoric success of Rick Riordan’s award-winning novels to the notorious failure of the 2010s movie adaptations, Bobin’s been entrusted with delivering a faithful reconstruction of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. After boarding the project back in 2021, Bobin will direct the first two episodes and act as executive producer for the show. The role places him in direct collaboration with Anders Engström and Jett Wilkinson, who will direct the later six episodes of season one.
The Big Three: Bobin Talks Working With Gods & Other Directors for ‘Percy Jackson’
The work of directing Percy Jackson season 1 has been split between James Bobin, Anders Engström, and Jett Wilkinson, who’ve earned the moniker of “The Big Three” behind the scenes. The nickname is a nod to the Percy Jackson books, in which the “Big Three” are Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, Percy’s godly father and two uncles. About the behind-the-scenes trio, James Bobin has gone on record stating that the directorial shift between himself, Engström, and Wilkinson was “fantastic”, according to an interview with Comicbook.com.
I basically did the first two, and as the pilot director, you cast the show, you design the show and you set it rolling. Both Anders and Jett are fantastic directors and they work so brilliantly with the cast. The most important thing is that the cast stays the same. It’s continuity of cast and they did a brilliant job and their episodes also look beautiful. They did a great job.”
James Bobin, Director
In the same interview, James Bobin got to compliment Percy Jackson‘s other “Big Three”, praising the godly performances of Jay Duplass and the late Lance Reddick as Hades and Zeus, respectively. According to what we already know of the Disney+ show, most of the recognizable gods won’t show up until the later chapters of Percy’s journey. Still, Bobin has stated that even in his episodes, the “tone carries on naturally” thanks to actors who know their jobs well.
Bobin, Engström, and Wilkinson all serve as directors and executive producers for Percy Jackson, along with Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Jonothan E. Steinberg, Dan Sholtz, Bert Salke, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jim Rowe, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, and D. J. Goldberg.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians will debut on Disney+ on December 20th, 2023.
