Ask the Author: Rick Riordan
Answered Questions (511)
Rick Riordan
Thanks for reading. The anecdote about Jesus and Thor comes from the 13th Century Icelandic Sagas. I didn't make it up. The idea of exclusive monotheism (no god exists but the god the 'correct' group believes is) is a fairly new phenomenon. Christianity (for the most part) and Islam take this stance, but even in Jewish scripture, a.k.a. the Old Testament, there was never a claim that other gods didn't exist. The focus was simply that the God of the Hebrews was supreme, and his people shouldn't be worshipping other lower beings like Baal, etc. This, at least, has been my reading of the various monotheistic scriptures. For most of history, humans have been polytheistic and syncretic, meaning they accepted that each people had their own set of gods, and that these gods were all real. It was just a question of which gods were stronger and worth sacrificing too. The Greek and Romans and many other ancient cultures had no problem adopting gods from outside their homelands if those gods became popular or were judged to be useful. Isis (Egyptian) was enormously popular in Rome, for instance. Long way of saying: Yes, to the Ancient Greek and Egyptian mind, and the Norse mind, I think it's safe to say that people believed all people's religions existed side by side. They might think other people's gods were weak and puny -- like Thor supposedly thought of Jesus -- but they didn't claim that no other pantheons existed.
Rick Riordan
Thanks for reading! Typically, I only have time to do a tour in North America for my publisher here when a new book comes out. The tour is usually about one week long, so somewhere between five and seven stops. Bookstores submit proposals to my publisher to host these events, and the publisher chooses the best / most likely to draw a good crowd. That means that for me to visit a place, it has to have a well-established bookstore (or great library system) that has experience doing large events and an enthusiastic, well-organized staff that can commit to putting on that sort of book signing. Since I usually do large events (like 500-2000 people) it also means the bookstore has to be able to find a site that can hold that many, like a local theater or school auditorium. We try to pick different places for each tour, but we do tend to go to cities where the publisher knows they've had successful events in the past, and where there is a big reading community. Over the years, I've been all over the United States and Canada, with some strange exceptions I can't really explain: never been to Idaho, the Dakotas, Montana or Wyoming, for instance. Never been to Hawaii, sadly, or anywhere in Canada except Toronto and Vancouver. As for international touring, I usually simply don't have the time or bandwidth to do that. I'll be doing an event in Italy later this month, and that's the first time I've done so in eight years. I'll be doing an event in December in London (more on that later) and I haven't done one of those in over a decade. Fifteen years ago, I did a week of events in Malta, which was cool. But that's it. As far as I can recall, I have never done a public event in any other country. Most of the time, I need to be at home in Boston writing in order to keep up with my deadlines!
Rick Riordan
Neither. It's complicated and involves a lot of legal contracts, but Disney automatically acquired the adaptation rights for Percy when they bought Fox about, what, eight years ago? Disney, however, was in a state of flux with a lot of executives and departments being shuffled around, so Percy wasn't really on their radar. We had to point out to Disney that they now had those rights and convince them to do something with them.
We had sold the rights to Fox way back in 2002. Like all such contracts, it's a "one and done" situation. Once Fox made the films, they owned the adaptation rights forever and ever. There was/is no way we could change who had the rights or sell them somewhere else. However, when Fox became part of Disney, we saw an opportunity to maybe get a new start with adaptations. It was an unusual situation, but we made the best of it. Becky and I were able to negotiate a producing contract which augmented our original 2002 rights contract and gave us a seat at the table in terms of all the decisions you're asking about.
"How much say?" I mean, I can't put a percentage on it, but we are involved in all those decisions as executive producers. That alone is VERY unusual for authors, who typically get zero say in their adaptations. Every decision around a TV show is a group decision. It's never just me, or any other single person, making the call. There are hundreds of people involved. I weigh in, absolutely. If something feels off to me, the team has been good about listening to my concerns and addressing them. I am more involved in some areas than others. I give notes on all the scripts, and read every draft. That's an area where I feel I can help. Directing? I don't know jack diddly about directing. That's an entirely different skill set, so I don't usually have anything to contribute unless I see something in the dailies that I don't understand, then I'll just ask. Casting, yes, again, we weigh in, but the final decisions have to be amenable to everyone -- show runners, producers, studio and network executives. I think we've been very lucky with the great actors we've gotten.
How does it "typically" work? As I said above, most authors have zero control over their adaptations, unless they are already involved in the film industry and are very savvy about that world. Otherwise, the film industry basically says, "Hey, we know how to make a film/TV show. You do not. We are putting up potentially millions of dollars and taking all the risk to make this adaptation. You need to let us do our job." Sometimes that works out. Sometimes it doesn't. The author's only real choice is to sell the rights or not to sell the rights. But getting control or even input? That's very, very difficult.
And once you've sold the rights, that's it. They are sold to that studio forever. You can't later change your mind and say, "Actually I don't like working with this studio anymore, I want to resell the rights and work with Streaming Platform B instead." The whole point of the contracts is to prevent that. The only way rights would change hands is if another huge company bought them out -- the way Disney did with Fox.
It's all very corporate and more complicated than I've just described, but I hope that helps answer your questions.
We had sold the rights to Fox way back in 2002. Like all such contracts, it's a "one and done" situation. Once Fox made the films, they owned the adaptation rights forever and ever. There was/is no way we could change who had the rights or sell them somewhere else. However, when Fox became part of Disney, we saw an opportunity to maybe get a new start with adaptations. It was an unusual situation, but we made the best of it. Becky and I were able to negotiate a producing contract which augmented our original 2002 rights contract and gave us a seat at the table in terms of all the decisions you're asking about.
"How much say?" I mean, I can't put a percentage on it, but we are involved in all those decisions as executive producers. That alone is VERY unusual for authors, who typically get zero say in their adaptations. Every decision around a TV show is a group decision. It's never just me, or any other single person, making the call. There are hundreds of people involved. I weigh in, absolutely. If something feels off to me, the team has been good about listening to my concerns and addressing them. I am more involved in some areas than others. I give notes on all the scripts, and read every draft. That's an area where I feel I can help. Directing? I don't know jack diddly about directing. That's an entirely different skill set, so I don't usually have anything to contribute unless I see something in the dailies that I don't understand, then I'll just ask. Casting, yes, again, we weigh in, but the final decisions have to be amenable to everyone -- show runners, producers, studio and network executives. I think we've been very lucky with the great actors we've gotten.
How does it "typically" work? As I said above, most authors have zero control over their adaptations, unless they are already involved in the film industry and are very savvy about that world. Otherwise, the film industry basically says, "Hey, we know how to make a film/TV show. You do not. We are putting up potentially millions of dollars and taking all the risk to make this adaptation. You need to let us do our job." Sometimes that works out. Sometimes it doesn't. The author's only real choice is to sell the rights or not to sell the rights. But getting control or even input? That's very, very difficult.
And once you've sold the rights, that's it. They are sold to that studio forever. You can't later change your mind and say, "Actually I don't like working with this studio anymore, I want to resell the rights and work with Streaming Platform B instead." The whole point of the contracts is to prevent that. The only way rights would change hands is if another huge company bought them out -- the way Disney did with Fox.
It's all very corporate and more complicated than I've just described, but I hope that helps answer your questions.
Rick Riordan
There aren't many easy answers about what happens in TV, but this is actually a pretty simple question to answer: Viewer numbers. It is 100% all about viewer numbers. We were of course hopeful that season one would do well, but this is a risky business and a very expensive show to create, so Disney needed to see how season one did before they could agree to fund season two. That's fair enough, but it explains why the longer wait. We couldn't start season two until we had a green light, and we couldn't get that until they saw how season one did, so there was a down-time between wrapping season one and commencing season two of almost a year. I'm not complaining! There really wasn't any other way it could've happened in the rapidly changing TV business these days.
Thankfully, season one did incredibly well, and that's a compliment to all of you viewers and Percy fans! Armed with that information, Disney was able to not only green light season two, but to green-light season three shortly after season two wrapped filming, based on the data they had and the quality of the episodes they had seen. That's why we were able to start s3 earlier. Viewer numbers.
When will we find out about a potential s4? You guessed it. It will depend on continued excellent viewer numbers, and I imagine (but am not promising and am not 100% sure) that the earliest we can possibly know that will be after they see how s2 actually did. If you all continue to like and watch the show, then the show is more likely to continue. The only sway I have (aside from advising the production team) is in letting you all know about the show and encouraging you to watch it. After that, the matter is in your hands collectively.
Personally, I think season two is even better than season one. I think we've improved on a lot of elements and the team is learning to really channel that Percy magic the only way you can learn it -- by continued practice! Hopefully viewers in the aggregate will agree with me. We'll see in December!
Thankfully, season one did incredibly well, and that's a compliment to all of you viewers and Percy fans! Armed with that information, Disney was able to not only green light season two, but to green-light season three shortly after season two wrapped filming, based on the data they had and the quality of the episodes they had seen. That's why we were able to start s3 earlier. Viewer numbers.
When will we find out about a potential s4? You guessed it. It will depend on continued excellent viewer numbers, and I imagine (but am not promising and am not 100% sure) that the earliest we can possibly know that will be after they see how s2 actually did. If you all continue to like and watch the show, then the show is more likely to continue. The only sway I have (aside from advising the production team) is in letting you all know about the show and encouraging you to watch it. After that, the matter is in your hands collectively.
Personally, I think season two is even better than season one. I think we've improved on a lot of elements and the team is learning to really channel that Percy magic the only way you can learn it -- by continued practice! Hopefully viewers in the aggregate will agree with me. We'll see in December!
Rick Riordan
Nothing new, I'm afraid, except what I previously mentioned, that another project had to jump in front of the last 'Senior Adventures' book. I will hopefully be able to tell you more about that project when I do my book tour later this month. I haven't forgotten about it, and it is in progress, but I can't imagine it possibly being published before 2027, and that's a best-case scenario. I will let Percy know that you'd like to hear about him doing his taxes, however. Can you take "near death experiences" as an educational deduction?
Rick Riordan
You can always check my Goodreads reviews. I only review books I have enjoyed (which is why I don't usually give them star ratings, because they are all good) and I read a lot! https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Rick Riordan
I understand! I do not believe there is any agreement in place to publish physical copies in mainland China. There will be a complex Chinese language edition in Taiwan, but that probably doesn't help you! The best advice I can give you is to ask at a bookstore if it is possible to do a special order. Thanks for reading!
Rick Riordan
Hello in Uzbekistan! I'm so glad you've enjoyed the books. I honestly don't know which publisher controls the rights in your country. I have about forty different publishers across the world, and they are the ones who translate, print and distribute the books. I don't have any power over that directly. The best thing to do would probably be to ask someone at the bookstore what they can find out, and if a copy can be pre-ordered. Usually that is possible. You can also look in the other books you have and see who the publisher is. That is usually printed on the spine and also in the first few pages. If you can find the publisher's website, they may be able to give you more information. Sorry it's so hard to find, but I hope you are able to!
Rick Riordan
As much as I'd love to see that, here's all I can really tell you, as I've answered before:
At present, no one can possibly know the answer to this, including me. I'd consider it a huge win if we can just get five seasons of Percy Jackson made, covering the five original books. The first season was a huge hit, which helps a lot, and I'm pretty sure viewers will like the second season even more, but in the current environment, how many shows can you think of that have lasted for five seasons or more? A few, yes, but not many. Hopefully PJO will get that chance, but no one knows yet -- not me, not Disney, not anyone.
Now consider how many shows have lasted for five seasons and remained SO successful that they spawned a sequel series that also lasted five seasons? That's an even rarer event. It's hypothetically possible for us, I guess, but it all depends on the continued success of the first series, which no one can predict.
Since Heroes of Olympus happens after PJO, you'd really need to finish airing PJO the TV series before you could launch Heroes. Otherwise the story wouldn't make much sense. So . . . again, just hypothetically, IF we got the remaining three seasons for PJO green-lit one after the other, and IF we filmed and released them as quickly as possible, it would still be years before anyone was even ready to discuss a sequel series like Heroes of Olympus. We'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I'll be doing everything I can behind the scenes to help PJO keep moving forward and exploring other potential adaptations of my books, but nothing is certain!
At present, no one can possibly know the answer to this, including me. I'd consider it a huge win if we can just get five seasons of Percy Jackson made, covering the five original books. The first season was a huge hit, which helps a lot, and I'm pretty sure viewers will like the second season even more, but in the current environment, how many shows can you think of that have lasted for five seasons or more? A few, yes, but not many. Hopefully PJO will get that chance, but no one knows yet -- not me, not Disney, not anyone.
Now consider how many shows have lasted for five seasons and remained SO successful that they spawned a sequel series that also lasted five seasons? That's an even rarer event. It's hypothetically possible for us, I guess, but it all depends on the continued success of the first series, which no one can predict.
Since Heroes of Olympus happens after PJO, you'd really need to finish airing PJO the TV series before you could launch Heroes. Otherwise the story wouldn't make much sense. So . . . again, just hypothetically, IF we got the remaining three seasons for PJO green-lit one after the other, and IF we filmed and released them as quickly as possible, it would still be years before anyone was even ready to discuss a sequel series like Heroes of Olympus. We'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I'll be doing everything I can behind the scenes to help PJO keep moving forward and exploring other potential adaptations of my books, but nothing is certain!
Rick Riordan
Jason is awesome as Mr. D, isn't he? Yes, absolutely. Just as in the books, Mr. D will be back for seasons 2 and 3. How much? Well, I would personally watch a whole show about Mr. D and it won't be THAT much, but hopefully enough!
Rick Riordan
It's one of the many potential projects we are exploring, but whether or not it ever gets off the ground, I don't know. I've learned the hard way that it's better not to announce anything until I am absolutely sure it's happening, because the vast majority of TV/film projects that get started never get into active production. We'll see!
Rick Riordan
Oh, I've been thinking about it and getting this question for years. The problem is 1) getting Disney to act on it, since they hold the rights, and 2) getting the interest of a gaming company that has the reach and the resources to do it right. Both things have been extremely hard. Gaming companies are even more skittish than film studios when it comes to investing in "unproven" properties, which weirdly enough Percy Jackson is still considered to be in many areas. They don't want to risk anything new that might lose money, so it's easier for them not to take a chance, which means the IP remains unproven. The lack of merch / games etc. etc., isn't because we haven't tried and don't continue to try. It's because we are constantly being told, "Eh, we're not sure there's enough interest. Let's wait and see." What they are waiting to see, I'm not really sure. Pretty much any merch / game suggestion you can think of to any major company you can think of, we've tried it, and that's the answer we have gotten. We will keep pitching things, but at this point, I wouldn't hold your breath. Sorry I can't give you better news!
Rick Riordan
I don't have a firm date for the third book yet. Still writing it, but several other potential projects (some on the book side, some on the TV side) jumped in front of that for reasons that will only make sense if/when I can announce them. Sorry that's super vague, but it's all I can say at the moment. Haven't forgotten, though, and it's a good problem to have that I'm so busy! Court of the Dead comes out this fall. Something cool will come out in 2026 for sure, but it won't be the third Percy. No spoilers, I'm afraid. As for the cast doing promo stuff, I don't have much to do with that. Those decisions are made by the TV studio's PR/talent relations team. I'm sure they will continue to do events to promote the show as they have been, but realize that they are also working very hard on set for months at a time, so it's not always possible for them to travel everywhere people would like to meet them. It's always a balance!
Rick Riordan
I'm glad you enjoyed Magnus Chase! I think you could certainly make that case about Blitz, but since it is never explicitly stated in the books, there is no canon, and whatever I might say after the fact doesn't count any more than your own opinion, so you are free to see the character based on what you read! I think it's important to leave room for fan imagination, because different readers need different things from the characters, so it's important to let them be open to diverse readings.
Rick Riordan
Funny you should ask. I was recently asked to write a forward for a collection of Marvel's Mighty Thor comics that will be coming out in the near future. I grew up reading my uncles' old Silver Age comics from the late '50s-early'60s, and Mighty Thor was definitely in the mix. I loved it! Then in 6th grade, I was introduced to the original Norse myths and saw that Marvel's version was, well, quite different, but that's okay, I love them both! The movies didn't come out until much later, by which time my own understanding of the Norse myths was pretty much already formed, so I can't say the movies influenced my writing, but I certainly enjoyed them.
Rick Riordan
Good luck with your studies! My younger son Patrick just got his master's degree in library science, and while it's a challenging time to be a librarian, we need them more than ever. I'd say most MG and YA books that are published need more love! In particular, I'd recommend Rosie Brown's Serwa Boateng series from my Rick Riordan Presents imprint (Ghanaian mythology in modern America), Kyle Lukoff's A World Worth Saving (trans male hero with magic and monsters from Jewish folklore), and on the YA side, Andrea L. Rogers' Man Made Monsters, a interconnected collection of horror short stories inspired by Cherokee folklore. All recent reads for me, all great!
Rick Riordan
It's one of many ideas I have considered and I would love to see that, but it's a matter of figuring out the right story, finding time in my schedule, and finding a great co-author, because that is a POV I would need help with to make sure we do the character justice. No immediate plans on the horizon, but it is on my (very, very long) list of possibilities!
Rick Riordan
I'm so glad you've enjoyed the books and want them to continue. Thank you! I try not to say "I will never do x, y, or z again," because I have no idea what will happen in the future. I always try to hedge my bets by saying "Right now, I don't have any plans to do x, y, or z." I wish I could tell you I had some grand master plan and know exactly what I will write in the future, but I don't. I'm working on a lot of projects right now that I never anticipated! What I do next really depends on what idea I find most exciting at the time. I try to avoid agreeing to write anything else in the PJO world unless I feel like it adds something new to that universe and offers me a chance to explore new stuff in new ways. That's where the Nico/Will books with Mark Oshiro came from. Is it possible there will be more books that happen in a similar way? Sure! But the future is as unknowable to me as it is to anyone else.
As an aside, my publisher seems to think I have the rest of my life figured out, too. They recently asked, "How many more books does Rick intend to write?" As if I knew exactly how long I had to live and had planned a bucket list for each year. I have not. All I can say is that as long as I enjoy writing and feel like I can still do it, I will continue to make books, because I love storytelling!
As another completely random aside, because I am ADHD, I have to add that my spellcheck above changed "working on a lot" to "working on a llama," and now I am sad I do not have a llama to work on!
As an aside, my publisher seems to think I have the rest of my life figured out, too. They recently asked, "How many more books does Rick intend to write?" As if I knew exactly how long I had to live and had planned a bucket list for each year. I have not. All I can say is that as long as I enjoy writing and feel like I can still do it, I will continue to make books, because I love storytelling!
As another completely random aside, because I am ADHD, I have to add that my spellcheck above changed "working on a lot" to "working on a llama," and now I am sad I do not have a llama to work on!
Rick Riordan
I don't know what promotional plans Disney has for the cast. They usually arrange all that through publicity and talent relations, and I am not involved in those decisions. Unfortunately, as you probably know, I hardly ever do international events myself in any country because I just find it too exhausting, and I have never been to Brazil, as much as I think you are all awesome! I don't foresee that changing, but if it does, I will certainly let everyone know!
Rick Riordan
The Dam scene, absolutely. Not sure about Rachel yet. Scripts are still being written and lots yet to decide. As a general comment, however, I totally get wanting to see every character as soon as possible or even sooner. In a book, that's easy. I write the scene and it's done! However, I've come to appreciate that this can be a logistical problem in a TV show because it involves so many other factors, not the least of which is casting a recurring character. For example, even in the book Titan's Curse, Rachel's one scene is a "blink and you miss it" cameo. To cast a cameo in a show is one thing. To cast a cameo for an actor in one season and then hope you can get the same actor for a guest star or some other level of participation a year later (or more) in the next season can be really tricky and complicated with schedules, contracts, budgets, etc. All by way of saying, if I have to choose between getting a fantastic actor when they are actually needed for a lot of screen time rather than scrambling to cast a cameo appearance one season and hoping it works out for future seasons, I'd rather wait and do it right! Viewers shouldn't have to think about any of that, I know. You all just want a great show, and we'll do our best to give it to you. But if you're curious why not every character or detail can make it into a season, even with the bigger canvas that TV gives us versus movies, that's part of the reason. There are a million moving parts to manage behind the scenes!
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