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'Percy Jackson' series adds WWE Hall of Famer as Ares, 'The Flash' fan favorite as Medusa
"This guy IS Ares the way I imagined him in the Percy Jackson series," says author Rick Riordan.
The pantheon of gods and monsters featured in Disney's hotly-anticipated Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV show just got a little bigger. Variety was first to bring word that the Disney+ adaptation has added three new guest members to its roster: Adam Copeland (a WWE Hall of Famer also known as "Edge"), Jessica Parker Kennedy (best-known for playing fan favorite Nora Allen on The CW's Flash), and Suzanne Cryer (Laurie Bream on HBO's Silicon Valley).
Copeland will become belligerent as Ares, the Greek god of war, while Parker Kennedy snake-heads it up in the role of Medusa. The latter fittingly confirmed her involvement on Instagram with a number of snake emojis. Both Ares and Medusa appeared in 2010's The Lightning Thief where they were portrayed by Ray Winstone and Uma Thurman, respectively. Cryer, meanwhile, has been tapped to play Echidna, the Mother of Monsters.
Posting about the latest casting development on his blog, Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan praised each of the actors in turn. "This guy IS Ares the way I imagined him in the Percy Jackson series," he wrote of Copeland. "He obviously knew the part, loved it, and was having WAY too much fun being the God of War. He even got a Harley-Davidson motorcycle so he could practice riding and get into character. That is commitment! Can’t wait to see him go mano a mano with Percy Jackson? Me neither!"
Riordan described Parker Kennedy's take on Medusa as "poised, powerful, elegant," going on to add: "Wait until you see some of the statuary in her Garden Gnome Emporium."
As for Echidna, Riordan said Cryer brings "menace and magic" to the beast-keeping character. "Percy and the gang have their work cut out for them when they go toe-to-toe with this primordial force of nature, along with her favorite little monster baby . . . who may not actually be a chihuahua," he teased.
The trio joins an already stacked cast, which includes Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson), Leah Sava Jeffries (Annabeth Chase), Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood), Virginia Kull (Percy's mother, Sally Jackson), Glynn Turman (centaur and Camp Half-Blood trainer, Chiron), Jason Mantzoukas (Camp Half-Blood camp director, Dionysus, aka "Mr. D"), Megan Mullally (Percy's teacher and secret Fury, Alecto), Timm Sharp (Percy's stepfather, Gabe Ugliano), Dior Goodjohn (daughter of Ares, Clarisse La Rue), Olivea Morton (Percy's classmate, Nancy Bobofit), and Charlie Bushnell (leading member of the Hermes cabin, Luke Castellan).
Disney+ has yet to announce a premiere date for the series, though it will most likely debut sometime next year. Production is now underway in Vancouver.
If you're looking for more fantasy in the meantime, check out the best fantasy movies on Peacock.
