The best myths are ancient yet timeless. Even though these tales date back millennia, mythical heroes can be reborn in Marvel movies, on Broadway, or at the center of Christopher Nolan epics. Their enduring plots can be twisted or reimagined into all sorts of different forms: just look at one of Disney’s biggest original series.
Percy Jackson has been a hit on the page and on TV, and now another modern, creative reimagining of a myth has been greenlit at Amazon Prime. If all goes well, it just might be a hit too.
In 2017, New Zealand artist Rachel Smythe started publishing the webcomic Lore Olympus on her Tumblr page. It was a lush, watercolor reimagining of the story of Hades and Persephone in a world where Hades is a sensitive but guarded romantic hero dressed in business suits, and Persephone is a bright-pink young woman whose hair reveals her emotions.
The series soon moved to Webtoon, a popular platform for webcomics. In 2019, The Jim Henson Company announced that it would adapt the comic into an animated series, but that was about all we heard for seven years. Now, however, Variety reports that the series is finally a go at Amazon Prime Video, with Willow’s Julia Cooperman serving as showrunner.
Smythe continued publishing chapters of the original comic until 2024, when she ended the story after 280 episodes. The 10th and final graphic novel collection is set for publication in June, so there’s plenty of material to adapt if the series proves popular.
For its part, Prime Video has become a reliable platform for animated franchises with pre-existing fandoms. Critical Role, the web series where actors play Dungeons & Dragons, smashed crowdfunding records for Vox Machina, an adaptation of their first campaign, while Hazbin Hotel was based on a hit YouTube video. Lore Olympus will attempt to join their ranks, and it certainly has the source material to pull it off.
