Name: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Official Podcast Episode 9
Uploaded: 2026-03-27T16:59:42.000Z
Duration: 33 min 19 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Your son is Percy Jackson, and you're technically Poseidon.

I—I'm probably the least—the least, like, Poseidon of any of the gods.

I—I picture you as, like, an Aries guy.

The one time I tried to ride a motorcycle, it didn't go well, so I'm not.

Hi, I'm Arian Simhadri, and I play Grover Underwood.

And welcome to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Official Podcast bonus episode.

Uh, there's so much stuff that couldn't make it in, so let's talk to Rick.

All right, so I know, like, you've talked about how this series started as, like, you know, a—a bedtime story.

Looking back on it, it's—it's weird that this was so long ago that, like, none of you all that are doing the show right now were alive then.

Not that that makes me feel, like, ancient or anything, but.

This was 21 years ago—no, well, actually

more than that, because I was telling the story probably back in, I don't know, 2001, 2002 to my son.

I don't know how that happened either, but

at the time, you know, it was really just me—I would tell him stories for bed, we'd read books together or whatever, and

he was really having a tough time in school.

I said, "Isn't there anything you like, anything that we can, like, build on that—that you thought was interesting?" He said, "Well, we're doing a unit on Greek mythology.

I—that's okay." And I was like, "Ah, wait, Greek mythology.

I've taught this before." So I started telling him stories, and he liked that.

then one night I just kind of ran out of new myths and said, "I don't know if I have anymore.

I mean, that's kind of it." And he said, "Well, why don't you make one up?" And I remember when I was a—an English teacher years before that, back in San Francisco, I used to do this creative writing assignment with my students where I would have them design their own demigod.

And I would say, "Okay, come up with a name.

What—what monster do you want to fight?" And they would write these great short stories.

I said, "Okay, I'll make up one," and I made up Percy Jackson.

And it took about probably three nights to tell the whole story.

My son is always reminding me that his version is different than the one that was published.

He'll say things like, "Well, that's not how it happened in the original version, you know." He's about as old school as you can get, even—even written in the books.

If you don't mind me asking, what did that original version look like?

Like, was the first story that you told him, like, the story of the lightning thief, was he always, like, named Percy Jackson?

It was the lightning thief, more or less.

He met the Minotaur first and then Medusa.

It's a pleasure to meet you, son of Poseidon.

Percy Jackson is a very family-oriented guy.

Half the reason he does what he does is for Sally.

So how did you, like, bring your family into this world?

It's really impossible for me to imagine that I would have written Percy Jackson if it wasn't for my two sons and Becky, my wife, because, you know, when I was writing about everything, I mean, I was drawing on that experience.

I was drawing on my experience as a—as a dad, you know, being worried about my kids.

You know, what kind of help are they going to need?

And it always seems, when you're that age, I think, that you feel kind of like a demigod.

It's always these huge challenges that are way too big for anybody to handle.

Becky has always been, like, my first editor, and

she's always been my—my biggest, um, like, coach in terms of encouraging me and giving me time to write.

She said, "I'll take the kids to the zoo today.

You get a chapter done." And I'm like, "Okay." So, you know, I'd sit down.

This is back when I was teaching still, so, you know, I had to kind of find time where I could.

And the kids were always my first, um, my first audience.

I would always read the original Percy books to them to make sure that they worked for—for kids.

And if something I thought was hilarious that I had written didn't make them laugh, you know, I'd have to cross the street.

Something I've always wanted to know: who originally taught you the Greek myths?

Like, where did your interest from them stem from?

Like, I think the fact that you were able to, like, create this whole world, I mean, basically on the fly as a bedtime story, is impressive not only because of, like, your writing skills, but

just because you had such, like, a depth of knowledge about this world.

Like, how did you fall in love with them?

I did have a fantastic 8th-grade English teacher, Mrs.

Past, and she taught Norse mythology and Greek mythology.

And she had also done her, like, master's thesis on The Lord of the Rings, which was my favorite book series at that time, so I thought she was just, like, the greatest thing ever.

I think she was the first teacher that, like, really saw me and kind of said, "You know, it's going to be okay, Rick.

It's not always going to be like you're in middle school, and

it's okay to be interested in writing and reading, and you're going to do very well.

she's also the one who told me that I should be a writer.

She read one of the short stories I did for her class, and

You ought to submit this and see if you can get it published." It was rejected, but

that's okay, you know, years and years of rejections, but she started me on the path.

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Percy Jackson and the Olympians Official Podcast Episode 9

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