Family: late husband, Amphitryon; husband, Jason; sons, Iphicles and Hercules; daughters-in-law, Rena, Deianeira, and Serena (in an alternate timeline); grandchildren, Aeson, Klonus, and Ilea
Appearances: Hercules and the Amazon Women, HTLJ — S1: The Wrong Path, Ares, The March to Freedom, The Warrior Princess; S2: What's in a Name?, The Mother of All Monsters, The Wedding of Alcmene; S3: Not Fade Away, Surprise; S4: Hercules on Trial, Armageddon Now Part 1, Porkules, Twilight, Reunions
Bio: Alcmene was the widow of Amphitryon, a respected war general killed in battle, and through him, the mother of Iphicles, King of Corinth. The night Amphitryon had been killed, Zeus, King of the Greek Gods, had visited Alcmene, taking the form of her husband and leaving her impregnated with a son, Hercules. She'd been left to raise Herc and Iphicles by herself, though had also grown to become a second mother to Herc's friend Iolaus. Eventually, after years of loneliness, she'd fallen in love with a younger man named Demetrius, though this had turned out to be a trick, as Demetrius had been working with Echidna the entire time to get revenge on Hercules for the deaths of Echidna's various monstrous offspring (The Mother of All Monsters). Alcmene had managed to come out of the ordeal unscathed, and had later found genuine love and happiness with Jason, an Argonaut and another of Herc's friends. With Herc's blessing, Jason and Alcmene had wed, even in spite of Zeus's wife Hera sending her infamous Blue Priest to disrupt the ceremony and make an attempt on Herc's life (The Wedding of Alcmene). About a year or so after that, Alcmene, Jason, and the rest of Herc's loved ones had gathered to celebrate his birthday, only for the surprise party they'd had planned to be crashed by Callisto, an evil warrior woman who'd been freed from Tartarus by Hera. Calisto had poisoned Alcmene and the others, causing everyone to hallucinate until Herc could cure them with a golden apple from the Tree of Life (Surprise). Callisto later made another attempt on her life, this time with help from Hope, Gabrielle's evil offspring whose only purpose was to bring her father Dahak to the earthly plane. Hope had guided Callisto back through time, to a time when Alcmene had been pregnant with Hercules, so that Callisto could kill Alcmene before Herc could be born. While she'd managed to succeed the first time, Iolaus had followed Callisto back in time, preventing her from killing Alcmene a second time and saving his buddy Herc in the process (Armageddon Now). Months later, Alcmene had passed away from a weak heart, a condition that had apparently also plagued her mother, and had wound up in the Elysian Fields (Twilight). Following her death, Hercules had accepted an offer from Zeus to become a full-fledged god and join the Olympians. Hera, however, had taken the opportunity to try to ally herself with Herc in an effort to overthrow Zeus and take the throne of Olympus for herself. When that didn't work, Hera instead had tried to use Alcmene's soul as a bargaining chip, but that too had backfired and Herc had exiled Hera into a vast Abyss (Reunions).
Portrayed By: Jennifer Ludlam (Hercules and the Amazon Women), Kim Michalis (Young Alcmene, Hercules and the Amazon Women & H:TLJ), Elizabeth Hawthorne (H:TLJ S1), Liddy Holloway (H:TLJ S2-S4), Rachel Blakely (YH film), Josephine Davison (voice, animated film), & Sharon Tyrell (YH)
Hercules and the Amazon Women Jennifer Ludlam |
HTLJ S1: The Wrong Path Elizabeth Hawthorne |
HTLJ S4: Twilight Liddy Holloway |
Hercules & Xena - The Animated Film: The Battle for Mount Olympus Josephine Davison |
Young Alcmene HTLJ S4: Armageddon Now I Kim Michalis |
Young Alcmene YH film Rachel Blakely |
Young Alcmene Young Hercules Sharon Tyrell |