Who Plays Luke In The Percy Jackson Movies & TV Show?

Is it possible for a franchise to be both underrated and wildly beloved? When it comes to literature for kids and middle grade readers, the answer is a clear "yes." A few massive pop cultural flashpoints aside, modern kid lit seems to be full of super-popular titles that earn millions of young fans but barely register on the radar of adults (and, importantly, critics). Rick Riordan's "Camp Half-Blood Chronicles" appears to be one of these. The books, which center on the sassy son of Poseidon, Percy Jackson, and the friends and rivals he meets at a camp for demigods, have more than 180 million copies in print, according to Disney. However, if you're over the age of 35, you may not have heard of them — until about a year ago.

In December 2023, Disney+ debuted the first season of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians," a buzzed-about adaptation of Riordan's book "The Lightning Thief" that was designed to lay the foundation for additional seasons based on the author's other "Percy Jackson" novels. It was a hit, too; in January 2024, Deadline reported that the show's premiere had already amassed over 26 million views in its first three weeks of streaming.

"Percy Jackson and the Olympians" aims to right some of the wrongs of an inconsistent previous attempt to adapt the saga, which stuttered out after just two films in 2013. In those movies, "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" actor Logan Lerman played Percy, while future "The White Lotus" star Alexandra Daddario played Athena's daughter Annabeth, "Tropic Thunder" actor Brandon T. Jackson portrayed the satyr Grover, and "Supernatural" alum Jake Abel played Hermes' son Luke. In the Disney+ version, Walker Scobell ("The Adam Project") plays Percy, while Leah Jeffries ("Empire") is Annabeth, Aryan Simhadri ("Adventure Time: Distant Lands") is Grover, and Charlie Bushnell ("Diary of a Future President") is Luke.

Luke Castellan is a character who's worth paying close attention to, seeing as he ends up playing an important and unexpected role after the first book in Riordan's "Camp Half-Blood Chronicles." In "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief," the film directed by "Harry Potter" veteran Chris Columbus, Luke starts off as a friendly head counselor who gives the younger kids guidance, but is ultimately revealed to be the titular thief who stole Zeus' lightning bolt. The second (and final) film in that franchise sees Percy and his pals face off against Luke when he attempts to raise Kronos to take down the Gods of Mount Olympus.

The same holds true for Riordan's books, with Luke eventually becoming a character who some see as a major antagonist while others consider him more of an anti-hero. Luke is the son of Hermes, the Greek messenger god who represents travelers and thieves alike. His mother was May Castellan, a human woman with the gift of foresight who appeared to lose her faculties when she failed to take over possession of the spirit of the famed Oracle of Delphi. All of this plays into Luke's actions in the novels, but when we meet him in the Disney+ show, he appears to have found a home at Camp Half-Blood alongside Zeus' daughter Thalia (Tamara Smart) and the rest of the demigod gang.

Jake Abel played the hero-turned-antagonist in the two "Percy Jackson" films, but it wasn't his breakthrough role. Abel actually started acting as a teenager, popping up in the Disney Channel Original Movie "Go Figure" (the one about hockey and ice skating) before taking guest roles in a slew of aughts shows including "Grey's Anatomy," "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody," two different "CSI" titles, and "E.R." He also appeared in the critically panned literary adaptations "The Lovely Bones" and "I Am Number Four," only for his career to kick into high gear when he portrayed Adam, the half brother of Sam and Dean Winchester, in the much-loved fourth and fifth seasons of "Supernatural."

Abel would later return to "Supernatural" as the archangel Michael, but in the meantime, he starred in both of the "Percy Jackson" movies as well as an adaptation of "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer's sci-fi romance book "The Host." More recently, Abel had recurring roles in the podcast adaptation "Dirty John" and the Jared Padalecki-led CW show "Walker." He also starred in Netflix's Katee Sackhoff-led series "Another Life" and appeared in the future cult classic (and all-around /Film favorite) James Wan horror film "Malignant."

Season 1 of the Disney+ "Percy Jackson" series only touched on Luke's true motivations in its finale, and the character is expected to have a big role in the show's upcoming second season. In this version of the story, the son of Hermes is played by Charlie Bushnell, who (like most cast members in the show) doesn't have tons of credits in his filmography yet. An IMDb biography that Bushnell himself apparently wrote while in the 9th grade reveals that he started making home movies at the age of 10, but was especially inspired to pursue acting after binge-watching "Stranger Things" in 2017.

After appearing in two short films, Bushnell landed a key supporting role in "Diary of a Future President," the Gina Rodriguez-produced Disney+ series about a young girl (Tess Romero) who dreams about becoming the U.S. President someday. Rodriguez plays the older version of the protagonist Elena, who actually does become president, while Bushnell plays her older brother Bobby, who realizes that he's gay after developing feelings for a male friend in season 1. The show was canceled after just two seasons before, frustratingly, also being taken off Disney+ in one of a number of recent streaming-era purges of original projects, so it's not currently (legally) available to stream in the U.S.

Aside from "Percy Jackson and the Olympians," Bushnell is also actively appearing in the Peacock show "In the Know." He's appeared in six episodes of the stop-motion adult comedy, which comes from the always-hilarious actor Zach Woods, as well as "King of the Hill" co-creator Mike Judge and Brandon Gardner, a comedian with UCB and Dropout creds. He'll play Luke again in the second season of "Percy Jackson," and told Mixed Asian Media that his performance is inspired by antiheroes like Anakin Skywalker and "Black Panther" villain Killmonger.

This section contains spoilers for the "Percy Jackson" books.

In the first season of "Percy Jackson and The Olympians," Luke aids Percy several times, even giving him a pair of winged shoes like the ones Hermes was known to wear. The shoes turn out to be cursed, however, as Luke had ulterior motives; he wanted to thwart Percy's plans to play the hero because he'd stolen Zeus' lightning bolt in an attempt to kick off a civil war of sorts among the Gods of Mount Olympus.

Season 1 ends with Luke facing off against Percy and then disappearing, clearly on the run from the youngsters. In the original books, Luke's story continues as his reason for aligning himself against the Gods is revealed. Luke, you see, never recovered from his mother's decline, which he blamed on Hermes, and from a failed Hercules-like quest that left him scarred by a dragon. He then aligned himself with Kronos, becoming a sort of tortured lackey for the powerful Titan (who pulled strings behind the scenes throughout the novels).

As the books unfold, Luke is increasingly drawn in by Kronos' control, and it becomes clear too late that he's regretful about his actions and wants to be done with the whole endeavor. Instead, he ends up being possessed by Kronos, and, in a moment of lucidity, sacrifices himself to save the world. The "Heroes of Olympus" stories are all about heroes and monsters, but they're also about the way each of us has the ability to be a hero or a monster. At the last moment, Luke chose to be a hero, making him one of the most important and empathetic characters in the entire franchise.

"Percy Jackson and the Olympians" season 1 is available on Disney+ now, with the second season set to premiere in 2025.