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Luke Castellan isn’t such a bad guy.

Except for when he poisoned Thalia’s tree. Or when he framed Percy for stealing the Master Bolt and Helm of Darkness. And I guess there was that time he led a siege of Camp Half-Blood.

I guess Luke is a bit of a jerk, but there’s more to him than meets the eye. In fact, Luke’s actor Charlie Bushnell believes the Percy Jackson and the Olympians streaming series has fleshed Luke out in a way the original Rick Riordan books haven’t.  

“What I love about the show is that we really get to flesh out the good and the bad of Luke, because I feel like with the books, they’re all Percy’s POV,” Charlie Bushnell says during a Percy Jackson and the Olympians panel at D23 Expo 2026. ”I feel like especially after The Lightning Thief Percy just like despises Luke, which I feel like still holds true in the show. I feel like the version of Luke we see in the books is kind of almost like skewed by Percy’s hatred for him a little bit. But what’s so great about the show, [looks to the producers] and you guys have written it so well, it’s not quite as black and white as that. [Luke] exists more in like a gray area, which has been a lot of fun to explore. Especially this season.”

Percy Jackson and the Olympians season three premieres on Disney+ November 20. If the trailer is any indication, don’t expect Luke and Percy to be BFFs in it.

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