Percy Jackson & The Olympians follows the titular character as he learns the truth about his parentage. He is a demigod son of Poseidon and is sent on a quest after being blamed for the theft of Zeus’s master bolt. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover must travel across America searching for the actual lightning thief before war breaks out between the Gods of Olympus. However, while on the quest, they discover that not all is as it seems, with many Gods having ulterior motives, and Percy will have to face dangerous threats that put not only his and his friends’ lives in danger but the fate of the world as well.
Percy Jackson & The Olympians is based on Rick Riordan’s acclaimed young adult novel series of the same name. The Disney+ series was created by Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg. Percy Jackson & The Olympians stars Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri with a stacked cast of guest stars including Jason Mantzoukas, Adam Copeland, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Timothy Omundson, Lin-Manuel Miranda,Toby Stephens, and Lance Reddick.
Ares’ Percy Jackson Episode 5 Villian Story Teases The Perfect Prequel Show That Can Never Happen
In Percy Jackson and the Olympians episode 5, Ares shares a villain story that sets up the perfect prequel. But this origin show can’t happen.
Screen Rant interviewed Adam Copeland about his Percy Jackson & The Olympian role as Ares. He shared how playing Ares felt comfortable and what he wanted to bring to his mental sparring match with Grover. Copeland also shared that he wants to further explore Ares’ relationship with his daughter Clarisse and the dynamic with his sister Athena.
Adam Copeland Talks Percy Jackson & The Olympians
Screen Rant: Adam Copeland, the Rated R superstar. Yo, let me tell you right now, buddy. I am shocked we’re even talking because you had a hell of a battle with Minoru Suzuki last night in a goddamn dream match, my friend. That was incredible. Look, I have goosebumps just talking about it.
Adam Copeland: It was so fun because it was so different, and I think a lot of fans probably didn’t know how will he adapt to that style, or will Suzuki, how will that work? But I’ve always tried to be the type of performer in wrestling that can adapt to whatever style I have to work with. If it’s the big show, whether it’s Dante Martin, now it’s Suzuki. I find that really fun, because it’s a cool challenge, honestly. I guess in terms of acting, it’d be like, okay, action movie, drama, period piece. I’d like to be able to try it all.
I watched that match you had with Dante Martin on Collision, and that was pay-per-view level, my friend. That was an incredible match. This is a hell of a time to be a wrestling fan.
Adam Copeland: Yeah, I’ve always been that way, too. Growing up I watched WWF because it was on the channels that were in my area and NWA wasn’t, but I was dying to see some NWA. I wanted to see Continental, I wanted to see Memphis. I wanted to see Florida Champions. I wanted to see all these different territories. I just had no access to them. But then I found International Wrestling from Montreal.
Then I found BC All-Star Wrestling, and the more the merrier, I thought. So to me, if I’m a wrestling fan now, which I still am, I think it’s awesome because you can have a match like me against Minoru Suzuki, which if even four years ago when I first came back, you thought that was a possibility, let alone five, six when I’m retired. And yet, here we are.
The reason I got into Percy Jackson was because you were going to be in it. Every episode feels like a movie. How do you get into the headspace of Ares, and what did you want to bring to the character to make it your own?
Adam Copeland: So what I found really intriguing about the writing, just when I did the audition and had the sides, I was like, Okay, there’s room for humor here. That to me was huge because I hadn’t read the books before I did the audition, and I’m kind of thankful I didn’t, because I didn’t come in with any preconceived notions or anything. I didn’t fully know how vast the Percy Jackson world was and how far its reach was. And if I did, it might’ve been a little bit more of a pressure cooker of an audition. But because it was just like, Oh, this is really well-written. I find some humor in here, so I want to try and pull those humorous aspects out.
That was really what I had fun with in the audition. I just had a blast doing it. And for whatever reason that seemed to work. So when I started looking at full scripts, I said, okay, well, this is a flawed God. This is a God who has insecurities, who has petty jealousies, who is just so flawed. And to me, that’s hilarious because here’s this omnipotent God of War who second guesses himself, who gets into a battle of wits with Grover and this mental chess match, which he loses.
And I just found that so fun, honestly. It’s just a really, really fun character. He was fun on the page, even more fun to try and bring to life. So that was really compelling to me. It wasn’t just one note. It wasn’t just big angry God of War. That’s there, and I could dip into my wrestling bag for that. But it was really fun to explore the humor.
It seems as if a lot of Ares’ anger is because his intelligence is underestimated by gods and humanity. Can you talk about tapping into that feeling, especially being a wrestler from the early era in the 90s of being a wrestler without wisdom? Because I felt like that was a trope that a lot of people misunderstood. And then Mick Foley wrote his book, and then people were like, “Oh, these guys are intelligent.”
Adam Copeland: Well, Mick writes his book, Jericho writes his books. I write my book. Then you have Dwayne knocking down every conceivable barrier. And then you have Dave making the choices he’s been making and playing characters that would seem totally out of his wheelhouse, but they’re not, which speaks to his talent. And then John…
And I think now because the curtain has been pulled back on the people behind the characters now, I think people have started to kind of understand that’s a little bit of an antiquated viewpoint. We can string together sentences, and as a matter of fact, we have to keep a lot of plates in the air live. And that’s one thing that always seems to shock people when I say, okay, yeah.
So if I got 10 minutes to fill in a live microphone, I got to go out and fill it. So it’s more standup or maybe theater in that regard, but it’s challenging. And I think now, especially again with movies like Iron Claw and you’re starting to see everything that goes into it and how all consuming it can be, I feel like that’s changed. Those tropes are starting to change.
I love the scene with you and Grover. Tell me about the verbal sparring match between the two of you because you said you almost approached it like a wrestling promo. What was it like for you to merge your wrestling background with this character?
Adam Copeland: Well, again, him being the God of War, he has to have that element, right. And I was like, Okay, that I got covered. I know where I got to get to for that. But that on the day with Aryan, who plays Grover, he’s so talented, he’s such a sweetheart of a person, too. But I wanted to scare him, and I wanted to see how legitimate we could make the scare. So nobody knew I was going to do that. So when I did it, coffee’s flipped and burgers jumped, and there was a lot of silence.
And then after, Jet, who is our director, she’s a wonderful director. She goes, All right, we’re going to make them really jump on this one.” I was like, okay, all right. So then everybody kind of got on board with what this thing was. But poor Aryan that first take, the look on his face… I felt bad. But I also knew that I think we captured something there. And that scene, it was so much fun to do because that wasn’t in the books. So that was purely written for the series.
And I’m so glad it was because that’s probably my favorite scene, just that whole interplay between him, even when Ares is explaining what his family is and just how ridiculous it all is. So that kind of set the tone from the start. It was a lot of fun. And when you have writing that good, it’s really tough to screw up.
How does Ares’ hatred of the demigods, including his own kids, influence his actions, especially with the questing trio?
Adam Copeland: More than anything, I think he just likes to stir it up and you see that even with the starting Twitter fights. I think he just gets off of, “Okay, where can I stir up trouble and where can I cause trouble and where can I cause mayhem?” But even in this, at the end of it all, he’s getting played. But also that lends to his insecurities. So it all comes kind of full circle because again, he’s not getting the respect that he feels he deserves.
I feel like maybe he’s the kid that didn’t get enough attention, and now you see that coming out in how he treats his kids. He hates all kids. He hates his own kids. Maybe not as much as others, but he’s not a great person. But also, I’d like to think that somewhere deep, deep down there, there’s something likable about him, too.
Can you talk to me about his resentment towards his sister Athena, and is that something we’ll see play out more in the series or in the following seasons?
Adam Copeland: I hope so. I really do. The one thing that, again, with that whole diner scene wasn’t in the books. So I think that leaves things fairly open to explore more. And I feel like there’s a lot of the relationships between the gods themselves that could be explored. That would be really interesting. I mean, some of the scenes that you could get, I mean, could be really ridiculous, in a good way.
What stood out about Ares to you from other characters you’ve played and forced you to kind of step outside of your comfort zone?
Adam Copeland: I can’t say I really felt like I had to step outside my comfort zone. It felt really comfortable. I think that was the key. I kind of immediately felt this role. And Beth, who read it with me, she even said, she goes, “You had so much fun doing that. That was fun to read with you.” Yeah. So it kind of felt, honestly, when I first read it. it was like, “Okay, okay, I think I know where I need to take this.” And it was kind of like just putting on an old comfortable shoe. Whereas when I’ve played other characters in the past, let’s say with Vikings, it’s a period piece. It’s a drama, it’s accents.
There’s some legwork that goes into that. For me, with Percy and in discovering Ares, it was reading the books, devouring those once I got the role, and really just understanding the world, the fan base, what the fan base likes, what they don’t like. I think that was important. But in terms of the direction that I thought Ares should go in, it felt like I was on the same page as everybody else, I guess.
Ares understands and leans into the violence of not just humanity, but his family as well. Did that influence your choices in how you interacted with the main trio?
Adam Copeland: I think what I wanted to try and do is have an undercurrent of danger and have that be able to pop out in a very dangerous way, and then suddenly go back to, “Oh, he was fine. He was just playing. Or was he? Nah, he was just playing. I think.” Just to have that question and that underlying bubbling current underneath of lava that might just explode here and there, that I thought would be a fun thing to have, to play, and for the trio to play off of, too. So, and I think to me, it fit. God of War. He’s also pretty confident in himself, but he’s also very insecure.
When Percy Jackson gets its second season, is there anything you’d like to explore with Ares that you weren’t able to dig into with the first season?
Adam Copeland: I think it’d be fun to explore the relationship with Clarisse. I think that would be very cool. And just to see how that works when they’re together. How is that dynamic? I think all of those dynamics is fascinating. To finally see Percy and Poseidon is going to be just cool. I think there’s a lot of legs and there’s a lot of different possibilities that weren’t in the books that you could explore, or you could just go straight the way the books are, and it’s going to be amazing because the books are great, so you really can’t go wrong. But if I’m just looking at it from the Ares perspective, those would be fun directions that I think would be fun to explore.
Look, now I’m a huge wrestling fan. If I were to name some of these gods, could we play a little word association on who you think some of these gods would be personality-wise based on some of the personalities you’ve been wrestling? We’re going to start with Zeus.
Adam Copeland: Oh, man, that’s a tough one. Gosh. I’d go with Rock.
Okay. That’s a great choice. Hera.
Adam Copeland: Oh, man. Oh, these are tough, man. I’ll go with my wife.
I had a feeling you were going to say that for some reason. How about Poseidon?
Adam Copeland: Ooh. Ah, gosh. Oh, Poseidon, who would be a good Poseidon? Sorry. I’m trying to put actual thought into this. Ooh, Jay White.
Ooh, The Switchblade. That’s a great choice. What about Demeter?
Adam Copeland: Valhalla.
Let’s go with Athena.
Adam Copeland: Trish Stratus.
Apollo, God of archery, music. Who?
Adam Copeland: I mean, Apollo Crews. Crews is a god already. It’s a gimme.
How about Artemis?
Adam Copeland: Let’s see… Finn Balor.
I like it. I like it. Hephaestus?
Adam Copeland: Oh, Brian Danielson.
Oh, great choice. Aphrodite.
Adam Copeland: Thereya.
Our last one is going to be Hermes.
Adam Copeland: Gosh, maybe Balor would’ve been good for him. Rey [Mysterio] could be good. Maybe LL Vikingo.
Oh, L the Kingo. There we go.
Adam Copeland: Thank you. Everything’s Viking to me.
About Percy Jackson & The Olympians
Based on the best-selling book series by award-winning author Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who’s just coming to terms with his newfound divine powers. When the sky god, Zeus, accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt, Percy sets off on an adventure of a lifetime with his friends, Grover and Annabeth, to find it and restore order to Olympus.
See our other Percy Jackson and the Olympians interviews here:
- Rick Riordan & Becky Riordan
- Jon Steinberg, Dan Shotz, and James Bobin
- Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz
- Dan Hennah, Tish Monaghan, Erik Henry, and Jeff White
- Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri
Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Based on the novel series by Rick Riordan Percy Jackson & the Olympians is an action-adventure fantasy television series created for Disney+. When Percy Jackson is framed for the theft of Zeus’ almighty thunderbolt, Percy must clear his name, all while harnessing the powers inherited by his father, Poseidon, at a camp created for demi-gods.
- Release Date
- December 20, 2023
- Cast
- Walker Scobell , Leah Sava Jeffries , Aryan Simhadri , Jason Mantzoukas , Megan Mullally , Glynn Turman , Adam Copeland , Virginia Kull , Lance Reddick
- Seasons
- 1
- Story By
- Rick Riordan
- Writers
- Rick Riordan , Jonathan E. Steinberg
- Streaming Service(s)
- Disney Plus
- Franchise(s)
- Percy Jackson & The Olympians
- Directors
- James Bobin , Anders Engström
- Showrunner
- Jonathan E. Steinberg , Dan Shotz
