This feature has spoilers for Hera in Blood of Zeus Season 2. It also features quotes from our interview with showrunners Charley and Vlas Paralapanides, which you can listen to here.
One of the standout characters from the first season of Blood of Zeus was Hera (Claudia Christian). Powerful and focused on revenge, Hera was someone to root for as much as she was an antagonist. While her “villainy” may have unleashed the primordial giants, almost doomed humanity, and got her husband Zeus (Jason O’Mara) killed, she did warn him not to step out of their marriage again. But Hera has always been more than just a scorned woman. Instead of being resigned to the trope, Hera evolved as a leader as much as a woman working through her own hurt. And in Blood of Zeus Season 2, Hera develops even more layers, with her motherhood coming into full view.
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With Zeus dead, Hera has to face the full weight of her anger and reap what it has sowed. She is disgraced from Mount Olympus, nearly alone, and Zeus’s death isn’t something to take lightly. While she is cognizant of the power vacuum that Zeus’s death forms, as any Queen of the Heavens would be, power isn’t central to her arc. Instead, Hera in Blood of Zeus Season 2 is deeply rooted in love. In her love for her husband and her children’s love for her. Ferocious in her anger last season, this season, her vulnerability is on full display.
Despite Hera’s aggression towards Zeus, as he stands in front of the judges in the Underworld with a future in Tartarus nearly sealed, it’s Hera who supports him. She accepts her faults and even tries to remove one of Zeus’ sins—cheating Hades and dooming him to the Underworld—by owning up to her role in it. She accepts her wrath and ultimately uses it as a shield to showcase that it is hers and hers alone. Her anger for his infidelity is hers to carry and shouldn’t outdo the good Zeus has done in governing the heavens for mortals and gods alike. She is, in her love, a just woman. Not a vengeful one.
We spoke with showrunners Charley and Vlas Parlapanides about crafting Hera’s arc. Co-showrunner Vlas Parlapanides had this to say when asked about Hera’s growing depth in Season 2: “[Her vulnerability] was by design. We wanted to kind of show another side of her. She is more complex [than just a scorned woman].” Vlas then threw the conversation to his brother and co-showrunner Charley Paralapanides, “Charley, you explain this well in terms of what she was known in the [Greek] Pantheon and us bringing that to the surface.”
Charley jumped in, “In a lot of the ancient texts, they always talked about her actually being very fair, and just except when she was angered by Zeus for his infidelity. Yes, she could kill Apollo and Artemis. Yes, she tried to kill Hercules, and she would always send snakes or people or things to kill [Zeus’ offspring from out of wedlock]. But the rest of the time, she was viewed as the White Arm Goddess who was very fair and decent. She was just. We felt like we played a woman scorned in Season 1, but now [we have to] make sure that was true to the tropes and stories of the past, but now let’s also see this other side that [the myths] also describe.”
Hera’s understanding of justice isn’t just shown in her standing by Zeus’ side in the Underworld. It’s also shown in her willingness to inflict punishment on herself for the uprising she led. She is not above the laws of the heavens, even if she rules them.
Charley continued, “One, we have to do this to do justice to how she’s been represented in the ancient texts. [And two], we also love the idea that in ancient Greece, someone could be banished from a city-state or Athens, even Themistocles. The general who led Athens to victory over the Persian invasion [was banished]. Each citizen had a jar, and if, I think, it was like 50 or 100 rocks were put in that jar, they would then be banished. We said what we should do for Hera is [honor] that she was fair. In [Blood of Zeus Season 2], Hera realizes that she had gone too far, and she’s trying to make amends now with everyone. So, we show how honorable she is. She’s even willing to take a punishment on behalf of what she did.”
Hera doesn’t have a clear redemption arc. If only because she carries the weight of her wrongs but would repeat them. Like other antagonists in Blood of Zeus, Hera is built on empathy. And that’s no clearer than when we see her son, Ares (Matt Lowe), talk about her.
While Ares is essentially a bully to Heron (Derek Phillips), he isn’t without reason. In fact, for those of us who have to see our mothers hurt at someone else’s hands, we can see hints of us in him. Ares is a mama’s boy, driven by his love for her and standing up for her when the other gods do not. Even if that means holding the deepest of grudges against Zeus’ illegitimate children.
When asked about Ares’ own complexity in relation to Hera and what he adds to her as a character, Charley said, “We’ve always liked Ares; the god of war just sounds cool. However, some of the texts describe that he wasn’t well-liked amongst the other Olympians. There’s a story of when they dropped the golden net on him when Apollo and Hermes were messing with him. We thought, well, maybe then he’s just more of, like, he’s more with his mother.”
“That’s also a very [Greek]. I remember my first job out of college; the guy interviewing me said, ‘Oh, my roommate in college was Greek, and he would call his mom every night. Do you call your mom every night?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, kinda!’ That’s what our culture is, we look out [for our mothers], we love our mothers, we defend them. That’s true, and Aries kind of became that.”
Defending his mother is exactly what Ares does, only he sees the threat as Heron’s very existence. Vlas Paralpanides added, “Technically, he is kind of sticking up for his mother and shining a light on his father’s infidelity. There’s nothing wrong with that, and it makes a lot of sense. It’s logical, and it’s almost kind of borderline noble. That’s what makes the show fun. There isn’t necessarily a white hat or black hat character. They’re all kind of complex. At that moment, you can certainly even be rooting for Ares. We like it when there are moments like that, where you can kind of look and discover another facet of a character.”
Through her own actions and through the eyes of her children, Hera finds new layers in Blood of Zeus Season 2. She is powerful, vulnerable, and, most importantly, she is just. For those looking for Hera’s redemption, she doesn’t need it. Or rather, she will claim her path herself.
Blood of Zeus Season 2 is streaming now exclusively on Netflix.
