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Everyone’s got their favorite swordsman, swordswoman, or swordsperson. Personally, I’m a ride or die Zatoichi guy, but I’ll never say no to watching Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. Now, a new generation of fantasy fans are getting to build connections with their favorite characters in Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+. While there are certainly some epic battle scenes in the books by Rick Riordan, it’s a whole other experience to see these scenes brought to life and performed by actors in the show. 

With this in mind, it would only make sense that the actor behind Luke Castellan on Disney’s Percy Jackson series, Charlie Bushnell, would want to do some serious prep before stepping into his role onscreen. Luke is known for being Camp Half-Blood’s best swordsman, and he’s the one who mentors Percy and hones our hero’s fighting skills. Of course, Luke has a dark side, and the end of season 1 showed that he’s part of a plan to bring back the evil Titan, Kronos, to destabilize the gods of Olympus. 

Speaking to Popverse at San Diego Comic-Con, Charlie Bushnell noted the influence that Anakin Skywalker had on his portrayal of Luke on the show. “Of course [Anakin was an influence in his portrayal of Luke],” Bushnell began. “Hayden Christiansen is amazing with the lightsaber. I hope to be as good as him one day... Before season 1, because that is such a big part of Luke's character, he's such a talented sword fighter, I remember I just watched so many movies that involve swordfighting. Definitely some Star Wars, I watched Troy, 300." 

Like Anakin, Luke from Percy Jackson starts out as an honorable hero, before succumbing to evil. So of course, when playing Luke on the Percy Jackson show, you can’t pull from just any sword wielding character in media. Anakin has his own fighting language that differentiates him from everyone else within Star Wars. Taking all of this into consideration, I can’t wait to see what Bushnell has come up with for season 2 of the show, which will further explore Luke’s conflict with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. 

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