Who plays Medusa in the Percy Jackson series?

As you gear up for Episode 3 of Disney+’s Percy Jackson series, you may wonder who plays the dangerous gorgon Medusa.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Disney+ reboot of Rick Riordan’s beloved children’s novels, has been taking the world by storm after its recent two-part premiere.

The series follows the adventures of Percy Jackson after he learns he’s both a demigod and the son Poseidon, before being whisked away on a treacherous adventure with his new godly friends.

Disney+ just released the third entry in the show’s eight-episode run, which introduces its version of Medusa. But which actress has taken up the mantle? Here’s everything we know.

Who plays Medusa in Percy Jackson and the Olympians?

Medusa is played by veteran actress Jessica Parker Kennedy. Kennedy is best known for her main role as Max in the pirate drama series Black Sails. She also portrayed Barry Allen’s multiversal daughter Nora in The CW’s superhero series The Flash.

In both Greek mythos and Percy Jackson lore, Medusa is a female-like creature with venomous snakes in place of hair. She has the power to turn people to stone using only her gaze.

While still a human priestess, Medusa took a vow of celibacy to show devotion to Athena, the goddess of wisdom. However, she was then seduced by Poseidon, who promptly abandoned her.

As punishment for breaking her vow, Athena took Medusa’s beauty from her and replaced it with her stone-turning abilities.

During Episode 3, “We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium,” Percy and his friends Annabeth and Grover encounter Medusa while looking for travel supplies. Medusa introduces herself using her real name, unlike her book counterpart, who tries tricking the kids by adopting the alias “Auntie Em.”

Since Medusa has such a strong connection to both Percy and Annabeth (who’s Athena’s daughter), the decision not to have Medusa hide her identity makes sense. The change also intentionally echoes the arc of Percy’s mother, Sally.

“With Medusa specifically, it was in conversation with Rick [Riordan],” executive producer Jonathan Steinberg explained to Polygon. “It was an awareness that came up in our conversations of how much her story mirrored Sally’s and how much a story about a woman who fell in love with a god and didn’t have as great an experience as Sally did out of it, how relatable that could be and really kind of getting into Medusa’s experience and her headspace – what is she as a character more than what is she as just a monster.”

Percy Jackson creator expands on the books’ backstory

Steinberg went on to express how excited Riordan was to expand the backstory of his work. “Try to put yourself in [Riordan’s] shoes,” Steinberg said. “He wrote a book and then wrote so many more books and that universe exploded and he never got a second shot.

“He took some pleasure, I think, in being able to have another go and think about how he would write the story again if he had a do-over.”

Check out our other Percy Jackson coverage here, and the rest of our Movies & TV coverage here.