‘Percy Jackson’s Disney Future Uncertain After Season 2 Viewership Drop

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 finale.Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ second season might be better than its movie predecessor, but its streaming performance has confirmed an unfortunate reality about the Disney adaptation. Based on Rick Riordan’s popular book series of the same name, Percy Jackson seemingly has everything Disney+ subscribers could want: gods, monsters, epic battle sequences, humor, pegasi, and a charismatic lead with legit acting chops. Season 1 started with a bang in 2023, netting 13.3 million views globally in its first six days of streaming and surpassing Goosebumps to become Disney Branded Television’s top premiere of all time. Season 2, however, hasn’t been as lucky.

Despite its impressive 100% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Percy’s sophomore entry hasn’t garnered the same level of interest in terms of actual minutes streamed. Season 1 nabbed 572 million viewing minutes in its first week; Season 2’s premiere week in Dec. 2025 saw that number dip to 508 million. This might not seem severe, but in a world where viewers are overwhelmed by the sheer number of streaming services available – not to mention ever-increasing subscription prices – a dip in viewership raises alarm bells. Fortunately for Percy, the show was renewed for Season 3 in March 2025, allowing the creative team to begin work on it soon after Season 2 wrapped production. Unfortunately, the series’ fate now lies in the hands of Disney’s ability to create a game-changing third season, lest it run the risk of premature cancellation.

The Harsh Reality of ‘Percy Jackson’ Season 2’s Declining Viewership

Grover, Annabeth, and Percy in the ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ Season 2 finale

Disney+

The unfortunate reality Percy Jackson and the Olympians now faces following Season 2’s declining viewership is one shared by the vast majority of shows today: viewers aren’t as captivated as desired, so they’re putting their valuable streaming time elsewhere. In Percy’s case, the reason could be twofold. Some fans may not have enjoyed Season 1 to the point that they weren’t interested in returning for Season 2. Others may have been so scarred by 2013’s dreadful Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters that they didn’t want to relive it, even if the show massively improved upon it. Bottom line: not as many viewers showed up for Percy’s second chapter, which is bad news for Season 3, now confirmed to release later this year.

That’s right: Season 2’s finale credits are interrupted by a clip from Percy Jackson Season 3 that shows Percy and Annabeth at a school dance, concluding with the promise that Season 3 will release in 2026. While this is welcome news for die-hard fans, it’s a curious move on Disney’s part. Season 3 isn’t even slated to wrap filming until March 2, 2026, meaning that the creative team will have admittedly less time for post-production than it did for Season 2. Why announce a 2026 release for a season that isn’t even done being made?

Again, the answer could be twofold. Riordan has already stated that Disney’s goal for Percy has been to produce seasons at a rapid rate to prevent the actors from aging out of their roles. But Percy’s Season 2 finale release day yielded additional telling insights. A quick scroll through X on the morning of Jan. 21 revealed that the Masters of the Universe trailer announcement was trending more than Percy’s Season 2 finale. In other words: ouch. According to FlixPatrol, Percy was in second place on Disney+’s Top 10 TV Shows, but it wasn’t able to top Hulu’s third season of Tell Me Lies. This followed Nielsen streaming data that revealed Percy Season 2 wasn’t in streaming TV’s top 10 the week of Dec. 15 to Dec. 21. Simply put, the hype for Percy isn’t in the steadiest place for a series that’s aiming to land a full five-season adaptation of Riordan’s immensely popular books.

‘Percy Jackson’ Season 2 and Its Dizzying Finale Veered Heavily From the Book

Annabeth and Thalia in the 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' Season 2 finale — Annabeth and Thalia in the ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ Season 2 finale

For viewers who don’t mind a few creative liberties, Percy Jackson Season 2 has a satisfying finale that more than paves the way for Season 3. The battle between Luke Castellan’s Kronos supporters and Camp Half-Blood’s loyalists offered Percy’s most intense (albeit quick) fight sequence yet, even entering borderline Hunger Games territory with its brutality. Tyson gets another touching moment to confirm how much being Percy’s brother means to him, and as expected, Thalia Grace finally breaks free from the tree her father Zeus placed her in prior to the events of Season 1. All of this added necessary drama to a season that promised and required higher stakes, ultimately foreshadowing conflict between Percy and Thalia, given the latter’s return and her potential tie to the mysterious Great Prophecy.

At the same time, both the season and its finale veered so far from Riordan’s The Sea of Monsters that viewers have effectively been treated to a completely different storyline. In the book, Thalia is turned into a tree because her father was protecting her from a grisly fate during a fight with the Furies. In the show’s finale, however, viewers learn that Zeus did it out of retribution after Thalia refused to become his weapon against Kronos. This comes after Percy’s second season found Annabeth wondering across multiple episodes if the Golden Fleece could bring Thalia back to life – a choice that completely robbed viewers of the book’s shocking final moment, aka the Fleece “working its magic too well” and bringing Thalia back to life. The series’ creative team continues to spoil what would otherwise be welcome surprises, and that might be even more concerning than the worrying Percy and Annabeth trend.

There were other dizzying aspects of the Season 2 finale. Annabeth, canonically one of Camp Half-Blood’s fiercest warriors, is nailed with an arrow the moment she arrives at the climactic battle, rendering her helpless. Three days later, after Percy wakes up from a post-battle dream, she’s miraculously fine. If the Golden Fleece helped bring her back to full health, great, but why didn’t it work on Percy and Thalia, who have been asleep ever since Thalia’s lightning blast knocked them both out? The show doesn’t say, nor does it explain why gods like Dionysus are employed at Camp Half-Blood in the first place if they’re not going to help defend it while under attack. We’ll wait to criticize the team’s decision not to give voice to the pegasus Blackjack, as there’s still plenty of time for his sassy banter to show itself. But that’s only if Percy Jackson can live up to the growing demand for television that requires return viewing, meaning Season 3 could be make or break for the franchise.