Charlie Bushnell on bringing legends to life
When Charlie Bushnell was initially cast as Luke Castellan in the live-action adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, it didn’t take long for him to understand the scrutiny he would encounter taking on the role. The highly-anticipated series was born out of existing novels penned by Rick Riordan, and those books hypnotized international audiences since their release in 2005. “There was definitely a lot of pressure,” Bushnell says. “People have had these characters in their heads for years, and they have their own interpretations of the characters. You definitely want to do right by the fans [when you] bring the character to life on the screen.”
Rather than fall victim to intimidation, Bushnell felt profoundly inspired by fans’ continued dedication to the series. He channeled their passion into his own performance and chose to start where it all began — peeling back the pages of the beloved universe and immersing himself in the forested, fantastical refuge of Camp Half-Blood. “I have been aware of Percy Jackson for as long as I can remember. My mom read the first couple of books to my brother and I when we were younger,” he explains. “But I hadn’t read the books myself until I found out I got the role. The day I got the role, I went to the bookstore and bought all the books and dove right in.”
Shirt POLO RALPH LAUREN, pants BRIXTON.
Growing up, Bushnell was self-described as “obsessed” with fish and birds — aspiring to someday become a zookeeper or veterinarian. However, being raised in a household of successful creatives would compel him towards a career similar to that of his parents. His father is a musician and single-handedly produced the soundtrack for The Commitments in the 90s, a film about working-class Irish musicians who form an R&B band in pursuit of a rag-to-riches story. His mother is a celebrity makeup artist who works with celebrated athletes like LeBron James, which Bushnell shares with visible admiration and respect.
In fact, Bushnell credits his own success to their relentless support. From the inspiring anecdotes his parents would share about their jobs to invaluable advice from his uncle (who is also an actor) before nerve-wracking auditions, Bushnell expresses endless gratitude for his family. “Before the pandemic, when there were a lot of in-person auditions, they would drive me all around town [so I could audition],” he says. “They do every self-tape with me. When I was filming Diary of a Future President, my mom would be on set with me every day and sacrifice her time. I couldn’t have done any of this without them, and I love them very much.”
Bushnell poetically refers to Diary of a Future President as his first love — a “fresh, new and exciting” exposure to the industry that helped him find his footing for later projects. As middle schooler Bobby Cañero-Reed, Bushnell was able to pull from his own experiences and ground the story in reality. But because he’s still learning and growing with each role, Bushnell also took advantage of any opportunity to try something new and enhance his performance. “One of the things that I really love about being an actor is that you get to learn all these new skills that you might not have gotten to learn,” he says. “For Bobby, I had to learn how to play tennis and I had to pick it up within a couple of weeks. I got pretty good.”
Bushnell continued experimenting with his first ever voice acting gig in Peacock’s In the Know where he voices Chase, a college student interning for a fictional NPR interview show alongside a team of stop-motion animated puppets. While recording in the sound booth with the rest of the cast, Bushnell learned how to play off his co-stars’ energy and the importance of “laughing [their] way through it.” Despite the restrictions with movement and facial expressions, Chase literally became three-dimensional through the efforts of the “incredible” animators and Bushnell’s own creative vision. “When you’re working on a voiceover, you definitely have to use your imagination a bit more,” he says.
Jacket vintage, pants ABERCROMBIE & FITCH, shoes CONVERSE.
While his first love might have been Diary of a Future President, his second love — the one that’s really allowed him to transform his perspective as an actor — was playing Luke Castellan in the ongoing Percy Jackson and the Olympians series on Disney+. The show integrates ancient Greek mythology into modern 21st century society, chronicling the journeys of demigod (half-human, half-god) teenagers as they save the world. Fabled locales like Mount Olympus and Medusa’s lair are situated among mortals, invisibly suspended above the Empire State Building or located just out of plain sight by the New Jersey Turnpike.
With the extensive canon and headcanon lore already in his arsenal, Bushnell is no stranger to the pop-cultural significance surrounding the Percy Jackson franchise. “I remember arriving on my first day on set, and it truly hit me,” he says. “It was like, ‘whoa, this is a big [and] important project. There’s a lot of pressure on it.’ I definitely experienced a little bit of imposter syndrome in the beginning.”
Now entrusted with the immense responsibility of representing these generationally beloved characters on-screen, Bushnell got to work cross-referencing the source material with the fandom to achieve the most well-rounded portrayal possible. “Rick laid out all the groundwork for me in the books. I could get everything I needed [to know] about Luke just from the books,” he says. “But I also did a lot of outside research online, looking up things about him and what people’s opinions [are] on Luke. The fans are so passionate about the series and the characters, they have so many great things to say about all the characters, and they’re so insightful. I feel like I learned so much from the fans.”
In preparation for the role, Bushnell tuned into several Percy Jackson-themed podcasts for deeper analysis of Luke’s character beyond the books — a tool he plans on utilizing for season two. Bushnell also found himself relying on physicality through intensive stunt training and sword fighting, as well as bearing Luke’s identifying scar sustained during a quest for his father, Hermes.
While crafting the audience’s first impression of Luke, Bushnell was careful to conceal his character’s true intentions throughout the season and throw off anyone who was unfamiliar with the plot. “We really wanted the viewers to fall in love with Luke a little bit, and really see him as this big brother mentor figure to Percy. We wanted him to come across as a calming, sort of cool guy energy at camp,” he says. In the finale of season one, that guise is shattered when Luke is inevitably revealed to Percy (Walker Scobell) as a traitor — shocking the protagonists (Leah Jeffries as Annabeth Chase, Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood) and first-time viewers alike.
However, Bushnell isn’t quick to identify Luke as a villain. Luke’s internal motivations are not as easily distinguished between black and white or good and bad. Bushnell sees Luke as more of a “wounded soul” who is conflicted within himself. He has justifiable grievances against the gods and years of “pent-up anger” brewing towards Hermes’ neglect — which materializes in volatile, often irrational actions (“Hurt people hurt people,” Bushnell mentions). And while Bushnell recognizes this, he still sympathizes with Luke emotionally. “Luke is an extremely confident character, and he knows exactly who he is and what he stands for. I see Luke as sort of a revolutionary. He’s not just going to follow the herd.”
Frustrated with the gods’ inclination to use their own children as disposable pawns, Bushnell explains that Luke took it upon himself to demand change — legitimately believing that a world without gods would be for the better. “I think Luke truly believes that what he is doing is the right thing. He believes that he’s on the right side of history.”
Bushnell also acknowledges the discrepancies between the book and show, including the definitive plot twist which was adjusted so viewers could see Luke through a more sensitive lens. “In the books, especially in that final scene, Luke definitely tried to kill Percy at the end with the scorpion,” Bushnell says. “In the show, he tries to recruit him to his side. We get a better understanding of Luke, where he’s coming from, and how he’s feeling. We can be more empathetic towards him.”
The show also deviated from the physical descriptions of the characters in the book, with Luke previously being depicted with short-cropped sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. While this decision was initially met with controversy, Bushnell explains that Riordan prioritized casting actors who would accurately capture the personalities of their roles, rather than explicitly focusing on external traits. “Something I really appreciate about Rick and applaud him for doing is when he was casting these characters, he chose the people who he believed brought the soul of the characters truly to life,” Bushnell says. “That’s something I hope we were able to achieve, and I think we did. I’m really proud of everyone who was involved.”
Photography IRENE CHEN
Fashion VANESSA POWELL
Grooming SAMANTHA HALL
Words KATELYN POTHAKUL and ICEIS AUGUSTINO
Layout RIDDHI MISHRA
Copy TYLER DAVIS and SAMANTHA MARQUEZ
Fashion Assistant EMILIE MACIAS
Retouch SOFIA
Special thanks to HELIOTYPE CREATIVE
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