Full spoilers below for Season 2, Episode 1 (I Play Dodgeball with Cannibals) & Episode 2 (Demon Pigeons Attack) of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
The first thing you notice about Season 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is how much the kids have grown. In the two years since Season 1 streamed on Disney+, series leads Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri have gotten taller, yes, but also matured substantially in both their acting ability and on-screen presence. It’s indicative of the show as a whole, which was fun and whimsical during its first go-round but now exhibits more depth, higher stakes, and a lingering darkness that permeates each episode. The show is still tremendously fun, but it’s evolved into something that parents will genuinely want to watch with their kids instead of simply turning it on for them and walking away.
The World of Camp Half-Blood Expands
For those unfamiliar, the series follows titular character Percy, a young demigod (his mom is human, his dad is Poseidon, god of the sea!) and his best friends Annabeth and Grover (a satyr) as they navigate a world full of challenges both mythical (creatures, artifacts, and quests galore) and worldly (hormones, drama, and feelings galore). Much of their time is spent at Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for the myriad human children of Greek gods like Athena, Ares, Zeus, and Poseidon.
Season 1, which was based on Rick Riordan’s bestselling novel The Lightning Thief, saw Percy learning about his true nature and undertaking a quest to return Zeus’s Master Bolt to Mount Olympus (also known as the Empire State Building in the world of the series) in order to avert a war. Season 2 adapts Riordan’s The Sea of Monsters, which has Percy and his friends traveling to the Bermuda Triangle in search of a golden fleece to help protect their camp from impending doom. For fans of the books who felt the films didn’t quite capture the magic, this series continues to prove it’s the adaptation they’ve been waiting for.
The Cast Continues to Shine
As with Season 1, the acting is stellar across the board, particularly among the young leads—and that’s what will keep fans coming back. Scobell once again shines as Percy, imbuing the principal character with a sense of quiet determination occasionally painted by intense vulnerability. He’s grown into the role beautifully, carrying the weight of Percy’s responsibilities while maintaining the character’s essential warmth and humor. Jeffries plays Annabeth, Percy’s friend-slash-crush, with such strength and loyalty that you can’t help but root for her in every scene. Her chemistry with Scobell has deepened, making their evolving relationship one of the season’s most compelling threads.
Simhadri, whose Grover is unfortunately separated from the others due to his being captured by Polyphemus while on a quest to find god and fellow satyr Pan, continues to bring a sense of wonder and enthusiasm whenever he shows up on screen. Even in limited screen time across these first two episodes, he makes every moment count, reminding us why Grover is such a beloved character in Riordan’s universe.
The show is still tremendously fun, but it’s evolved into something parents will genuinely want to watch with their kids.
Welcome Additions to Camp Half-Blood
Season 2 also brings new faces and characters galore, and fans of the books will be thrilled with the casting choices. The always-hilarious Timothy Simons (Veep, Nobody Wants This) joins the cast as new Camp Activities Director Tantalus, bringing a delightfully sinister energy to the role. A scene-stealing Daniel Diemer plays Tyson, Percy’s cyclops half-brother, with such genuine sweetness and heart that he instantly becomes a fan favorite. The visual effects work bringing his character to life is impressive—his one huge, blinking, emotive eye feels remarkably expressive and real.
Sandra Bernhard, Kristen Schaal, and Margaret Cho cameo in the season’s first episode as The Grey Sisters, who ferry the kids to camp in a taxi, providing laugh-out-loud moments that perfectly capture Riordan’s signature blend of mythology and modern humor. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jason Mantzoukas return as Hermes and Dionysus (Mr. D.) respectively, adding some familiar divine faces to the all-around knockout cast. Their appearances feel like reunions with old friends, and both actors clearly relish inhabiting these mythological characters.
Production Values That Impress
Along with the acting, the action, production design, and visual effects for Season 2 are ramped up considerably. Numerous monsters try to invade the camp in sequences that feel genuinely thrilling while remaining age-appropriate. A villain flies into the sky on a black pegasus in a moment that looks genuinely cinematic. Episode 2’s chariot race—a typical camp activity in the world of Percy Jackson—is a particularly impressive set piece, with loads of action, mythological creatures, and excitement that will have viewers on the edge of their seats. The sequence demonstrates that the show has learned how to balance spectacle with character moments, never losing sight of the relationships at the story’s heart.
The production design deserves special recognition for making Camp Half-Blood feel like a lived-in, authentic place. From the cabins dedicated to each god to the training grounds and dining pavilion, every location feels thoughtfully crafted. The show has clearly invested in creating a world that fans will want to return to season after season.
Finding the Right Balance
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is not high art. It’s not prestige television in the traditional sense. The pacing occasionally feels deliberate, and complex, mythology-heavy plot points are sometimes addressed with quick exposition. But this is not a show trying to be something more than it is, and that’s precisely what makes it work so well. After a few underwhelming attempts to bring the world of Percy Jackson to the big screen, the stories have found their footing as a television series, which is probably the best possible format for an adaptation of Riordan’s novels (whose world has now expanded to games and beyond).
The episodic structure allows the show to breathe in ways the films never could. Characters have time to develop, relationships can evolve naturally, and the mythology can unfold gradually rather than being crammed into a two-hour runtime. For fans who felt rushed through the previous film adaptations, this measured approach will feel like a gift.
Educational Entertainment Done Right
The world here is rich, both visually and story-wise, and the series consistently pulls off the impressive trick of getting its (mostly younger) audience to learn something—in this case, Greek mythology—while remaining delightfully compelling and entertaining throughout. Kids will absorb lessons about ancient gods, heroes, and legends without realizing they’re learning, while parents will appreciate the show’s intelligence and respect for its source material.
If you’re looking for a dark, moody, and intellectually challenging binge, look elsewhere. But if you want something for the whole family to dive into during your next session of joint family screentime, you could do a lot worse than Percy Jackson. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find many shows that manage to appeal to such a broad age range while maintaining consistent quality and never talking down to younger viewers.
A Show That Grows With Its Audience
What’s particularly exciting about Season 2 is how it mirrors the maturation of both its cast and its audience. Fans who discovered the show in Season 1 have grown older, and the series has grown with them—introducing slightly darker themes, more complex emotional situations, and higher stakes without abandoning the joy and wonder that made the first season special. It’s a delicate balance, but one the show navigates with surprising grace.
The first two episodes establish clear momentum for the season ahead, setting up conflicts both external (the quest for the golden fleece) and internal (Percy’s relationship with his newfound brother, the changing dynamics at camp). For book fans, seeing beloved moments and characters brought to life with this level of care and fidelity is genuinely thrilling. For newcomers, the show provides an accessible entry point into a rich mythological world.
The Verdict
Buoyed by standout performances from the lead cast and impressive production values, Season 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians continues to prove why a television series is the best possible format for adapting Rick Riordan’s popular novels. It won’t win a slew of Emmys, but the show grows richer and deeper in the new season, establishing itself as quality family entertainment that kids and adults can genuinely enjoy together.
The young actors have matured beautifully, the world-building continues to impress, and the show demonstrates a clear understanding of what made the books resonate with millions of readers. For fans who’ve been waiting years for a proper adaptation of Riordan’s beloved series, Season 2 delivers everything you could hope for—adventure, heart, humor, and mythology brought vividly to life. This is the Percy Jackson adaptation we’ve always deserved, and based on these first two episodes, it’s only getting better.
