Blood of Zeus
Teaser poster with its former title
Genre
Created by
  • Charley Parlapanides
  • Vlas Parlapanides
Written by
  • Charley Parlapanides
  • Vlas Parlapanides
Directed byShaunt Nigoghossian
Voices of
Music byPaul Edward-Francis
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8
Production
Executive producers
  • Charley Parlapanides
  • Vlas Parlapanides
  • Brad Graeber
EditorShea Formaneck
Running time25–37 minutes
Production companiesPowerhouse Animation
Asia Minor Pictures
Animation
services		Mua Film
Hanho Heung-Up
Original release
NetworkNetflix
ReleaseOctober 27, 2020 (2020-10-27) –
present (present)

Blood of Zeus, formerly known as Gods & Heroes,[1] is an American adult animated fantasy action television series created and written by Charley and Vlas Parlapanides for Netflix.[2][3][4] Produced by Powerhouse Animation Studios with the animation outsourced to South Korean studios Mua Film and Hanho Heung-Up, the series was released on October 27, 2020, on Netflix.[5]

In early December 2020, Netflix renewed the show for a second season, which is planned for a May 15, 2024 release.[6][7] According to the creators, they have five seasons outlined.[8]

Premise

Set in mythical ancient Greece, the series revolves around Heron, the demigod son of Zeus, trying to save Olympus and Earth. Though Heron-himself is an original character created exclusively for the show, the existence of such demigods born of the union between a god and a human is implied to be common in the original myths. The show claims in its prologue to be one of the tales "lost to history" rather, than passed down with our current canon of Greek myths. The show features gods, giants, demons, automata, titans, and mythical mounts from the original tales.

Voice cast

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"A Call to Arms"Shaunt NigoghossianCharles Parlapanides & Vlas ParlapanidesOctober 27, 2020 (2020-10-27)
Alexia hunts two demons close to a village where Heron works as a miner. As his mother is unmarried and he is thus a bastard, they are mistreated by the villagers. Their only friend is Elias, an elderly man. When a demon attacks Heron, Alexia injures and captures it while it is hiding in human form. Alexia explains that a cult of humans turned into demons is approaching and burns the human, revealing his demonic face to the villagers. Elias tells Heron the story of how the Olympian Gods defeated the giants, that were grown from the blood of the last Titan to fall in battle. Zeus made a deal with two giants to betray their fellows and throw their corpses into the sea, trapping their souls in a cauldron that was forged by Hephaestus and guarded by Talos. The body of a giant was later discovered by a human cult, who ate the giant's flesh and became the demons. Alexia invites Heron to become one of her soldiers, but he refuses to help save the villagers because of their mistreatment. Men from the village accuse Heron's mother of being a demon and attempt to burn her, only for her to burn herself to prove she is human after they beat Heron. Knowing war is coming, Elias tells Heron to mine the powerful metal adamantine from the top of a mountain to forge a sword. Elias, revealed to be Zeus in disguise, is confronted by Ares, who is surprised Zeus wants Heron to lead mankind.
2"Past Is Prologue"Shaunt NigoghossianCharles Parlapanides & Vlas ParlapanidesOctober 27, 2020 (2020-10-27)
Heron dreams of a queen giving birth to two sons, one her husband's and one belonging to another man. Heron brings the adamantine to Elias who begins forging a sword and tells him his dream came from the three Oneiroi, Phobetor, Phantasos, and Morpheus, the respective gods of Nightmares, Illusions, and Visions. Heron confronts his mother who admits she was once Electra, Queen of Corinth, but Zeus fell in love with her and she soon became pregnant. Zeus's wife Hera discovered Zeus's infidelity and sent the Oneiroi to tell the King of the infidelity in his dreams. When Electra gave birth to twin boys, the King tried to kill the son that was not his, Heron, but Zeus intervened and Electra killed the king. Zeus hid Heron and Electra under a layer of cloud so Hera could never find them, while Heron’s twin brother was left behind and assassinated by an uncle who wanted Corinth’s crown. Realizing Elias is his father Zeus, Heron tries to confront him, but finds only the completed sword which Heron rejects by impaling it into a boulder. Alexia's soldiers are killed by the cult leader but Alexia escapes with a map to their main camp, so a three headed hound is sent after her. Zeus reveals himself to Heron to ask forgiveness but leaves after Heron rejects him. Alexia arrives with the hound chasing her, so she flees with Heron.
3"The Raid"Shaunt NigoghossianCharles Parlapanides & Vlas ParlapanidesOctober 27, 2020 (2020-10-27)
Hera swears to kill Electra and Heron, so Zeus threatens her to leave Electra's life in the hands of the Fates. In secret, Zeus removes the protective clouds so he can see Heron. The demons attacks, so the villagers flee to safety through Heron’s iron mine. Heron causes a rockslide crushing several demons, so the Demons leader tries to kill him, Heron only surviving when Zeus sends him telepathic warnings. Electra manages to hide from the demons, but the demons leader Seraphim demands the villagers tell him where Alexia is. Electra kills them when the Cerberus picks up Alexia's scent. Zeus hides Alexia's scent with a rose bush. Seeing Zeus actively intervening, Hera decides to intervene herself and redirects the Cerberus to Electra. Hera and the other Gods confront Zeus, reminding him Electra's life is supposed to be in the hands of the Fates. According to Zeus' own laws, they would be within their rights to execute Zeus to preserve peace among themselves. Zeus is forced to watch as Seraphim executes Electra and takes Heron captive to turn him into a demon. Hera gloats at Zeus' misery while Seraphim takes Electra's necklace commemorating Heron and his deceased brother.
4"A Monster Is Born"Shaunt NigoghossianCharles Parlapanides & Vlas ParlapanidesOctober 27, 2020 (2020-10-27)
Alexia comes across Zeus disguised as Elias mourning Electra before continuing after Heron. Hermes carries Electra's soul to the Underworld where she chooses to appear to Heron in a vision, reminding him to be strong. Hera appears before Seraphim. After forcing him to kneel before her, Hera tells him he is the firstborn son of the Corinthian King. When his uncle Acrisius dropped him from a cliff, he was found alive by Electra’s midwife Ariana who fled with him into the woods where she raised him alongside a bear and her cubs. When Acrisius' sons found them, they murdered Ariana and Seraphim's bear siblings. The mother bear killed all the men except for one of Acrisius' sons who escaped. Years later, Seraphim tracked down and murdered the surviving son before fleeing into the sea where he discovered the corpse of the giant. After eating its flesh, Seraphim retrieved the Olympian bident that killed the giant and used it to kill the pursuing soldiers, turning those that surrendered into his followers. Hera claims everything is Zeus' fault for not saving Seraphim the way he saved Heron. Seraphim is suspicious of Hera's motives, so Hera also reveals Seraphim unknowingly killed his real mother Electra, enraging Seraphim against Zeus.
5"Escape or Die"Shaunt NigoghossianCharles Parlapanides & Vlas ParlapanidesOctober 27, 2020 (2020-10-27)
Alexia goes to meet her mentor Chiron in order to translate certain portions of the map she had obtained from the demons. Chiron reveals that the map provides a path through the labyrinth where the body of the Giant that created the Demons is hidden. Alexia tries to leave with this information, but Chiron reveals he has betrayed her to the Demons in order to protect his people. He surrenders Alexia and the map to Seraphim, but not before discreetly covering the map in mud. Hera leads Seraphim to the sword that Zeus forged for Heron. She states that the sword can cut through anything, including the automaton Talos that protects the chest that holds the souls of the Giants. She also demands that Seraphim kill Heron who has been taken on board a galley where he conspires with other prisoners to break from their shackles and take control of the ship. Hermes reveals to Zeus that he saw Hera conspire with Seraphim and this revelation pushes Zeus to the edge and he rains lighting to earth in order to protect Heron from Seraphim.
6"Back to Olympus"Shaunt NigoghossianCharles Parlapanides & Vlas ParlapanidesOctober 27, 2020 (2020-10-27)
Saved by Zeus, Heron is taken to Olympus while Alexia and the other prisoners are directed to go to the entrance of the Labyrinth, even though the map was destroyed. Seraphim is directed by Hera to find an artifact called the Cauldron of Darkness. Zeus tries to appease Hera and swear his devotion to her, but she only intends to accept if Heron is killed. Zeus refuses the condition and Hera leaves with her followers to Hades who remains neutral and offers shelter to any god who asks. Poseidon leaves with her. Alexia and the others meet with Chrion who provides a copy of the map to atone his mistake and they make plans to head to the Labyrinth through the Fields of the Dead. Heron is briefly trained and taught to control his anger when fighting before being summoned by the fates who warn him of the influence he will hold in coming events before revealing to him that Alexia and the others are walking into danger. However, Zeus tells him he cannot go to help them as he is not ready. After Heron asks Zeus why he didn't stop Seraphim from killing his mother, Zeus reveals that Seraphim is Heron's twin.
7"The Fields of the Dead"Shaunt NigoghossianCharles Parlapanides & Vlas ParlapanidesOctober 27, 2020 (2020-10-27)
Seraphim is given a nightmare by the Oneiros. Zeus banishes the Oneiros and reveals he has helped Seraphim all his life, even saving him from Acrisius' sons when they killed Ariana. He also reveals Hera manipulated him into killing his mother Electra. Chiron leads Alexia and her followers to the Fields of the Dead where the Olympians defeated the Giants and warns them within the mist they must never run in case they disturb the poisoned ground. Several followers are killed fleeing from hallucinations. They make it to the labyrinth's entrance where Heron arrives and kills the Minotaur. Following Zeus's clues, Seraphim finds Acrisius living in a cave and kills him. Alexia and Heron find the Giants' corpse is missing and Seraphim has them in a trap. Seraphim offers Heron a chance to work together and kill the Gods, but Heron refuses. The rest of the followers are killed, leaving only Kofi the gladiator and Evios the thief. Hera attacks Hermes who had been following her and steals his soul-collecting arm brace. Apollo saves Hermes, but is injured by Ares who throws Apollo's body into the sea. Seraphim locates the cauldron and escapes Talos using Heron's sword. Hera releases the Giants, souls, returning them to their bodies before fatally injuring Zeus while disguised as Hermes. As Zeus lies dying, the Giants begin marching on Olympus.
8"War for Olympus"Shaunt NigoghossianCharles Parlapanides & Vlas ParlapanidesOctober 27, 2020 (2020-10-27)
Hera offers the Giants the oceans if they kill Zeus. Overhearing this, Poseidon returns to Olympus with Apollo, heals Zeus (Zeus used his lightning to close his wound), and reveals where Hera has the cauldron. As the battle for Olympus begins, Heron, Alexia, Kofi and Evios infiltrate the demons' camp. Zeus and Poseidon kill most of the demons and Giants, so Hera attacks Zeus. Heron realizes the cauldron is being held high in the sky by Hera's crows. Zeus overpowers Hera, allowing Heron to retrieve the cauldron while the leader of the Giants wounds Zeus. Hera is betrayed and almost killed by the Giants' leader, but Zeus sacrifices his own life to save her. Seraphim severs Hera's right arm, taking the cauldron while Hera flees. Heron engages Seraphim in a fist fight. Accepting Zeus training, Heron stabs through his own chest with Seraphim's bident, impaling Seraphim as well and summons Zeus’s lightning to finally kill Seraphim. Heron reaches the cauldron and once more traps all the Giants' souls inside, ending the battle. The next morning, Heron reunites with his friends and is welcomed to Olympus by his several demi-god half-brothers. Seraphim's soul awakens in the underworld where the bident is retrieved by its true owner Hades who offers Seraphim freedom from eternal punishment if he kneels to Hades as he once knelt to Hera.

Reception

For the series, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes collected 21 reviews and identified 100% of them as positive, with an average rating of 8.14/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Reforging Greek mythology as an epic battle royale with slick imagery and sterling voice acting, Blood of Zeus earns a spot on the Mount Olympus of action animation."[9] Inverse.com called the series "Netflix's best American anime yet",[10] while IGN gave it a 9/10 score.[11] In a posting summarizing an interview on her podcast with the show's creators, Kate Sánchez argued that the series offers a "nuanced take on anger and how it relates to power" and noted how the series is part of the "continuing trend of adult animation."[12] The New York Times also praised the show, calling it, "special and dazzling" comparing it to the HBO series Game of Thrones.[13] Collider ranked Blood of Zeus #2 in its Top Ten Mythology Shows, second only to the History Channel’s Vikings. Blood of Zeus fared better than the Norwegian series Ragnarok, HBO’s American Gods and Starz’s Outlander, among other shows.[14] YardBarker called it one of the most extraordinary recent offerings in the dark fantasy and mythology genre,[15] while Ranker named Blood of Zeus their #1 Greek mythology show.[16] The show’s musical score was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Music in 2021.

References

  1. ↑ "Netflix Dates Blood of Zeus From The Same Studio That Brought You Castlevania". Bubble Blabber. September 23, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Netflix Orders Greek Mythology Anime Series". The Hollywood Reporter. March 12, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Netflix Orders 'Gods & Heroes' Greek Mythology Anime Series". Deadline.com. March 12, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  4. ↑ Evershed, John (2020). Adult Animation Finally Breaking Free of its Comedy Shackles (PDF) (Report). High Concentrate, LLC in Squarespace. p. 27. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 3, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  5. ↑ "New On Netflix October 2020". Decider. September 23, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  6. ↑ @NXOnNetflix (December 3, 2020). "The Fates have news! Heron's adventures will continue in season 2 of Blood of Zeus. @powerhouseanim" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ↑ @NetflixGeeked (November 10, 2023). "If this is episode 1, Blood Of Zeus season 2 is about to be insane. Blood of Zeus is coming to Netflix in 2024" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. ↑ "'Blood of Zeus' Creators Aim for 5 Seasons, But That's Not Netflix's Style". Observer.com. November 3, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Blood of Zeus: Season 1 (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Blood of Zeus: Season 1 (2020)". Inverse.com. 28 October 2020. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Blood of Zeus: Season Review (2020)". IGN. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  12. ↑ Sánchez, Kate (November 11, 2020). "INTERVIEW: Blood of Zeus with Charley and Vlas Parlapanides". But Why Tho? Podcast. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  13. ↑ Lyons, Margaret (29 October 2020). "How Much Time Do You Have This Weekend: (2020)". The New York Times. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Top Mythology Shows: (2023)". Collider. 24 September 2023. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Best Dark Fantasy Movies and Tv Series: (2023)". Yardbarker. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Best Shows with Greek Mythology: (2023)". Ranker. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
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