Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2

Sea of Monsters–the second novel in Rick Riordan’s wildly successful series–hits Disney+ this week. The official trailer for Season 2 of_ Percy Jackson and The Olympians_ opens with Percy (Walker Scobell) narrating the nightmare we’re seeing on screen. The accompanying music is a minimalist piano melody in A minor, with a repeated high register piano note as we’ve heard before. Percy wakes up from his dream, and at 0:21 as he says “I’m Percy Jackson,” we see an animated underwater Disney+ logo light up the screen.

This cues in a quick rhythm on staccato violins, reminiscent of Bear McCreary’s theme song for the series. By 0:24 we see Annabeth (Leah Sava’ Jeffries) warning Percy of the impending threats to their beloved Camp Half-Blood. On cue, at 0:27 we cut to the camp’s chariot races as the brass section plays swelling chords and big drums provide impactful accents.

Back in the taxi, we cut to silence at 0:41 for the comedic introduction of fan-favourite cyclops character Tyson (Daniel Diemer). At 0:46 as the Gray Sisters step on the gas, staccato strings return, this time with a faster rhythm than previously.

At 0:50 we see Percy’s rival Luke (Charlie Bushnell) pulling a poisoned sword from the tree that protects Camp Half-Blood. The swishing sound of the sword exiting the tree is synched to the beat of the music.

Leading up to the cut to silence at 1:12, we hear the context for Percy’s quest to the Sea of Monsters (located in the Bermuda Triangle). For the next 20 seconds of the trailer, Percy, Clarisse (Dior Goodjohn), and others are out at sea mid-storm facing monsters with massive tentacles, and here the music pauses, leaving space for a the sounds of wind and screaming creatures, along with a tense rising tone and a few high register piano notes.

At 1:27 a long string of trailer triplets cues the music back in, and now we are hearing a mid-range melody from a voice-like sound, though its syllables are hard to make out. And if you couldn’t understand the singing here, don’t worry, the intertitles don’t make sense either, telling us that every myth needs a legend (wait, what?).

We meet the character C.C. (Rosemarie DeWitt) at 1:40, and her wink comes with a clinking sound effect that is in tune with the music. But soon we cut to silence again, at 1:42 as a wall explodes. The silence leaves space for us to hear the voice of (presumably) Kronos saying “Kill the son of Poseidon.” And now we’re into the big finish, so from 1:48-1:59 we’re seeing more chariot races and a massive battlefield of teenagers, accompanied by the music of thunderous drumming.

At 2:02 the music stills, returning to the vibe from 1:12, risers, monstrous screams, and big ominous chords. The shift in tone makes sense thematically, as we are now back to shots of our heroes at sea mid-storm.

To close the trailer (which up until here is musically quite predictable), over the title card emerging at 2:25 from the depths of the sea we have accents on big drums. However, for a fresh rhythmic change, they are playing a series of sixteenth notes, instead of the trailer triplets that you’d hear in the closing moments of 9 out of 10 action trailers these days.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 launches on Disney+ on December 10th, in time for the holidays.

— Jack Hui Litster