Charlie Bushnell, the actor playing Luke Castellan in Disney+‘s Percy Jackson and the Olympians, says viewers will find plenty of reasons to understand and even sympathize with his character in the show’s second season. The new season, which started streaming on December 10 with new episodes every Wednesday, sees Luke fully aligned with the Titan Lord Kronos, but Bushnell insists the character’s motivations are rooted in a desire for a better world.
The Complicated Heroism of Luke Castellan
Luke, the son of the god Hermes, was introduced in Season 1 as a charismatic and trusted camp counselor at Camp Half-Blood before his shocking betrayal was revealed. In Season 2, he is openly leading Kronos’s forces, poisoning the magical tree that protects the camp and operating from the luxury cruise ship, the Princess Andromeda. Despite these actions, Bushnell argues that Luke does not see himself as a villain.
“You get to see this revolutionary side to him, but he really just wants a better world for everyone. He’ll do anything to make that happen,” Bushnell said in an interview.
The actor has drawn inspiration from other iconic, morally complex characters to shape his performance, mentioning Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars and Killmonger from Black Panther as references. He notes these are characters who genuinely believe they are fighting for the greater good, even if their methods are flawed.
New Flashbacks Reveal Luke’s Painful Past
A key part of building sympathy for Luke in Season 2 is the inclusion of new flashback scenes. These moments show a younger Luke, alongside Thalia Grace (played by Tamara Smart) and a young Annabeth Chase, struggling to survive on the streets as demigods.
These scenes depict the terrifying and lonely reality of their lives, constantly fighting monsters and having to fend for themselves without support from their godly parents. This traumatic backstory is central to Luke’s deep-seated anger and resentment toward the Olympian gods, which Kronos exploited to turn him against Camp Half-Blood.
Annabeth Chase, played by Leah Sava Jeffries, has a particularly painful connection to Luke, as he was her protector and chosen brother for years before his turn. Jeffries notes that for Annabeth, confronting the fully changed Luke on the Princess Andromeda is a uniquely difficult experience.
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Season 2 adapts the second book, The Sea of Monsters, and finds Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell) returning to a camp in crisis. The protective borders are failing, the new camp director Tantalus is more interested in games than defense, and Percy’s friend Grover is missing. Percy must embark on a quest to the dangerous Sea of Monsters to retrieve the Golden Fleece, the only item that can heal Camp Half-Blood.
The season raises the stakes, showing Luke’s plan to use the Fleece for a far more dangerous purpose: to speed up the resurrection of the Titan Kronos. The show continues to explore themes of friendship, belonging, and the courage to stand up for loved ones amid a coming war between gods and titans.
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