After all, when is Percy Jackson’s birthday?

Next Wednesday, December 20th, it will be available on the streaming platform Disney+ the first four episodes of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”, the series responsible for adapting the first book in the “Percy Jackson” franchise, created by the author Rick Riordan.

The production, which included the writer’s participation throughout the development process, will star Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson), Leah Jeffries (Annabeth Chase) and Aryan Simhadri (Grover). The official synopsis for the series says:

“The fantastic story of a modern-day 12-year-old demigod, Percy Jackson, who is just beginning to come to terms with his supernatural powers when Zeus accuses him of stealing his lightning bolt. Now, Percy will need to cross America to find the weapon and restore order to Olympus.”

The release of the production has been highly anticipated by fans, who were not satisfied with the first adaptation of the franchise, released in theaters in the 2010s. This is because the films “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief” and “Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters” were far removed from what was presented in the books, receiving strong criticism from admirers and the creator himself.

One of the points much criticized by fans was Percy’s age. In the films, the character appears at the age of 16, while his interpreter, Logan Lermanwas 21. Now, the new protagonist, Walker Scobellturns 14 in 2023, while the character in the series will also be 12 years old, just like in the books.

Birthday

It’s worth remembering that the demigod’s birthday has been something that admirers have been discussing for some time. This is because, on the pages, Rick Riordan explains that the boy was born on August 18, but never specified the year. Thus, several theories emerged among the community, where many believed that Percy Jackson could have been born between 1993 and 1994.

However, through its official blog, as reported by the ScreenRant portal, Riordan denied all these hypotheses, stating that he did not put a specific year, because “Percy ‘exists’ now, while you are reading the books”.

In other words, if you read the first book, “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief”, in the year of its release, in 2005, Percy would have been born exactly in 1993, just as the theories created by fans say. However, if you read the work for the first time today, in 2023, the character’s year of birth would be 2011. This way, regardless of how much time passes, Percy will always be 12 years old.