Percy Jackson’s big episode 3 change came directly from Rick Riordan himself

polygon.com:

For the most part, Percy Jackson and the Olympians executive producer Jonathan Steinberg says that the team behind the new Disney Plus show wanted to keep the story the same as it is in the books. But there is one big change the show makes in the third episode — and it alters Percy’s view of the gods, while adding more nuance to how they fit into this world.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for episode 3 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and the same moment in the books.]

In “We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium,” Percy (Walker Scobell) and his friends Annabeth (Leah Jeffries) and Grover (Aryan Simhadri) encounter Medusa (Jessica Parker Kennedy), the legendary monster of Greek mythology with snakes for hair and a gaze that turns people to stone.

Instead of a slow reveal that the mysterious Auntie Em is actually Medusa and her garden statues are her victims like in the book, the show’s Medusa outright introduces herself. In fact, she presents herself as an ally and relates her story to Percy, as someone who was also left behind by Poseidon.

It’s a sympathetic portrayal of Medusa that fits in the current cultural wave of reclaiming Greek mythology, particularly narratives around women. Madeline Miller’s Circe put a sympathetic twist on the Odyssey’s vengeful witch; Supergiant’s Hadesis one of the many Greek mythology-inspired stories that turns the Hades-and-Persephone narrative from a kidnapping into a consensual romantic relationship. Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ rendition of Medusa feels in line with such reimaginings: In some versions of mythology (and in the Percy Jackson mythos), Medusa is a former priestess of Athena seduced by Poseidon, then left to face Athena’s ire. It’s not a story that paints any