A (literally) big new character in season two of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV show is Tyson. However, his backstory and the origins of his relationship with Percy in the show is totally different to in the books. The showrunners of Percy Jackson season two (including the books’ author) have explained why they decided to make this big change to Tyson’s story.
So, in the novel Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, Tyson lived in a large cardboard box on the street. Percy’s school Meriwether College Prep let him join Percy’s year group as a sort of community service project, so that the students could learn about homelessness. (This all sounds very strange when summarised, but the scenes at this school seem to be satirising surface-level activism at “progressive” elite schools). Sally Jackson tries getting social services to help Tyson and encourages Percy to be friends with him. Tyson ends up coming to Camp Half-Blood with Percy, at which point Annabeth points out that he is a Cyclops. Percy failed to see this through the Mist (that intangible substance that stops mortals from seeing magic myth stuff).
However, in the Disney+ show, Sally finds Tyson and flat-out invites him to move in. Percy is aware from the get-go that he is a Cyclops. Some viewers of the Percy Jackson show were unimpressed with this change. It follows a trend from season one that Percy and his friends often figure out who monsters are more quickly than in the books.
Percy’s new roomie
(Image via Disney+)
The executive producer Craig Silversten explained the reasoning behind this change to Variety. “It was about understanding the idea of the Mist,” he said, “Now that Percy’s been able to see monsters for what they are, why can’t he see Tyson? There’s not a great reason for it, and the revelation of Tyson doesn’t change that much. He’s still this kid who has stayed at his house, who his mom brought in. He still has to take care of him. It seemed like a smart and efficient change when you’re trying to get everything into 40 minutes.”
Rick Riordan, the author of the books, echoes that the changes were about brevity. “We have to look at ways we can tell the story more efficiently, especially at the beginning. How do we get into the story quickly and still have the same impact? We compressed a pretty great deal from the first few chapters. We’re heading in the same direction. We’re getting to the same point, just a little bit quicker.”
Season two of Percy Jackson has made quite a few changes to the books, such as introducing a key character much earlier.
For more like this, like The Tab on Facebook.
