From Future President to Present Demigod: Charlie Bushnell Details Percy Jackson Experience, Future Luke Aspirations (Exclusive)

Charlie Bushnell is quickly becoming a household name. The California native debuted his biggest role to date this past December, starring as Luke in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The rollout of Percy Jackson Season 1 kicked off with a massive world premiere at The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York City, an event that also served as a reunion.

"It had been over a year at that point since I had seen the full cast. It's so crazy to me," Bushnell told ComicBook.com's Liam Crowley. "I filmed most of my stuff probably over a year and a half ago at this point. Time really flies, man."

That sentiment is especially true knowing Bushnell's acting origin story. The 19-year-old found his calling when watching Stranger Things for the first time, a series that is currently filming its final season. 

"It's kind of a sad story. I remember it was actually the day my dog Petito died. I stayed home from school that day because I was pretty upset, and I needed to take my mind off things. I go on Netflix and I've been meaning to get around to Stranger Things for a while because I was kind of late to the game," Bushnell recalled. "I'm going to give this one a shot, and I end up binging the whole thing that day. Immediately I was just like, 'That's what I want to do.' It just occurred to me that those kids, around my age, are acting. They made this amazing show and that looks so much fun. I want to do that. I just went up to my parents and I was like, how can I start acting? And I don't know, here we are."

Just a couple of years later, Bushnell booked his first big gig, starring in Disney+'s Diary of a Future President in 2020.

"That was definitely my first professional acting experience ever," Bushnell reflected. "I remember I was such a rookie in the beginning. I was researching everything I learned. They were saying all the on-set slang. I had no idea what it meant in the beginning. I think my biggest takeaway though from working on Diary was just how much of a team effort it is, creating a movie or a show. When you're there day in and day out on set, you see how much work truly goes into it. How everyone in every department is giving it their all. It wouldn't be possible without every single person on set."

Bushnell parlayed that Diary of a Future President momentum immediately into Percy Jackson and the Olympians. 

"It's definitely a whole different process between the two. With Bobby, my character on Diary of a Future President, there's research that goes into it, but at the same time, it's an original story. It's a character that has never existed before," Bushnell detailed. "When you're creating a character, you can make it your own in a lot of ways and almost use your imagination a bit more to create a backstory. With Luke, my main goal was really to take what was on the page and just fully bring it to life on screen. There's definitely a lot more research and deep dive that goes into that. Reading the books was the first step, but I also did a lot of online research."

The Percy Jackson casting process was tasked with not only finding capable young actors now, but talent they could envision growing into their roles throughout a hopeful five-season arc. That was the case with Bushnell, who only delivers a small taste of who Luke will end up becoming in Percy Jackson Season 1.

"We definitely did talk about Luke as a character and his arc and what's in the future for him," Bushnell noted. "We were really just focused on this first season and his arc specifically in this first season, but of course, we're looking to the future as well."

That particular conversation happened with director James Bobin and executive producers Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz on a Zoom call ahead of production. Upon reporting to Vancouver for filming, Percy Jackson creator Rick Riordan was waiting for him.

"I met Rick on my first day on set," Bushnell recalled. "It was a little nerve-wracking. This is the guy who created Luke! He's the nicest guy. We talked about Luke. He gave me some expert insight on top of my own research outside of it."

Some of those nerves simmered when Bushnell met his co-stars. Stars like Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri, Dior Goodjohn, and Andrew Alvarez not only share a similar level of Hollywood experience as Bushnell, but they're all also going through their teenage years on film sets.

"We all really love each other. We all clicked right off the bat and became such close friends," Bushnell said of his castmates. "We still talk, even though we kind of all live a little spread out. We still are texting the group chat every day. I was playing Fortnite with Walker the other day. Me and Dior hopped on a call the other night for two hours. We're all kind of going through all this together. I think that we can relate to each other in a lot of ways. I graduated high school in June, but those [younger] kids, they were day in and day out filming, and then in between takes were doing school. I have so much respect for them."

Bushnell is confined to Camp Half-Blood throughout Season 1, leaving him only sharing the screen with his fellow young co-stars as well as veteran actors Glynn Turman (Chiron) and Jason Mantzoukas (Dionysus). That said, Bushnell's Luke does have off-screen relationships with other characters, including his father, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hermes.

"We still haven't met. He did send me a really nice message after he watched the first two episodes with his family," Bushnell shared. "He just gave me a huge virtual pat on the back and said how much he's enjoying this show. I've been talking to him a bit over text. I hope we can get to Season 5 and have that conversation together. I would love to do a scene with Lin."

Percy Jackson Season 5 would cover The Last Olympian, the final installment in Rick Riordan's original pentalogy. Given that it is the culminating book, The Last Olympian is hope to many of the series's most memorable moments, including one particular chapter that Bushnell is most keen to adapt.

"Without giving anything away, in The Last Olympian, that end scene," Bushnell said. "'All the unclaimed, don't let it happen again.'"

In the meantime, Bushnell is enjoying this inaugural Percy Jackson release as it happens in real time.

"Every Tuesday I get together with my family and some friends come over and we watch it," Bushnell said. "We're texting the group chat. It has been so much fun for me just watching it, the episodes that I wasn't a part of because I'm just seeing it for the first time. I feel like I can really just watch it as a true fan.

"I actually didn't receive the scripts of the episodes that I wasn't in, which I kind of like actually, because I feel like I can really just enjoy it as a fan and a viewer," Bushnell continued. "I feel like I'm truly watching Percy, Annabeth and Grover up there. I'm not looking at those kids and I'm thinking, 'Oh yeah, that's Walker, Aryan and Leah.' No, that's Percy, Annabeth and Grover."

In just a couple of weeks, Bushnell is going to have to double down on his watch parties. He makes his voice-acting debut in In The Know, an animated series premiering on Peacock on January 25th.

"I think I literally pulled up in Uggs," Bushnell said of the relaxed voice-acting environment on In The Know. "That was an incredible experience. It was so much fun. That was also my first time ever doing voice acting or anything like that. One of my favorite parts of that was just every time I would arrive at the studio, we would all talk for 30 minutes just about life, the characters, the story. It just felt like a very collaborative experience. The fact that it's only your voice, it kind of takes the pressure off a little bit. You can really just focus on the character and the dialogue and the scenes and the moment.

"With Percy I was kind of in, I would be there for a week or two weeks at a time, and then I'd fly back and there would be long chunks of time before I had to go back," Bushnell added. "With In The Know, I really only probably worked a total of maybe five or six days because it's voiceover. We could get basically the whole season done in a few days."

In The Know will introduce viewers to Chase, a college intern working at NPR.

"Chase is a funny lad. He was such a fun character to play. He's sort of like a frat bro, but with a heart of gold," Bushnell said. "I think people are really going to love Chase. He sometimes will say some out-of-pocket things, but in a loving way."

And all of this is happening in the first month of the year. As 2024 continues, Bushnell hopes to maintain his momentum, both professionally and personally.

"I feel great, man. It's been really interesting kind of just living life without school too for a while. I decided not to go the college route, at least for right now," Bushnell said. "I've been taking a few acting classes. I want to get into maybe a martial art or kickboxing. I hope we can film a Season 2 this year and then maybe book a couple other jobs in between that or before or after."

New episodes of Percy Jackson and the Olympians premiere every Tuesday at 9 PM ET on Disney+.