NOTE: Spoilers ahead for the Season 1 finale of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”
The traitor of Percy Jackson’s first prophecy has finally been revealed and, though it obviously didn’t shock those who read the books, it certainly shocked Annabeth Chase on screen. And Charlie Bushnell, who plays the traitor himself, is definitely excited for what a proper confrontation between the two might look like.
In the season finale of the Disney+ series, now streaming, Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell) and his friends return to camp, ready to rat out Clarisse (Dior Goodjohn) as the traitor, after they figure that Ares (Adam Copeland) would only protect one of his own children.
But, as it turns out, the traitor is really Luke (Bushnell). He gave Percy the winged shoes hoping that they’d drag him down to Tartarus and straight to Kronos. Luke didn’t anticipate Percy giving the shoes to Grover (Aryan Simhadri). So, when the trio returns, he lures Percy into the forest to try and recruit him — only to realize Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries) followed them and heard everything.
The moment between them is brief, before Luke runs through a portal to escape — but it is loaded. Of course, book readers know that, in those pages, the betrayal runs very deep for Annabeth, resulting in a heartbreaking confrontation. Bushnell said he’s is ready to bring that to screens.
“Obviously, I’m not involved in the writing process or anything. But I am excited to see what that initial interaction is going to be like between between Luke and Annabeth when they see each other for the first time,” Bushnell told TheWrap. “I think Luke, of course, still truly cares about Annabeth and has a lot of love for her. Because I think he does see her as like a younger sister and kind of the only family he’s ever really had.”
He continued, “But I think she’ll be a lot more upset with him because, you know, in her eyes, he’s a traitor. He betrayed them all. But in Luke’s eyes, he’s doing what he truly believes is right. So, yeah, I’m excited to see how that scene goes down.”
That said, Bushnell is pretty pleased with the initial reveal. Though Luke and Annabeth really only shared a silent look, and the only words Annabeth uttered were that she heard everything, Bushnell feels the mutual devastation “does truly come across.”
“We both look a little heartbroken,” he said. “And, I think for Luke specifically, in that moment — you know, what was crazy to me is that, like, I think Annabeth, the fact that she was even there in the first place tells me that she had suspicions about Luke. I think for maybe awhile, maybe she even clocks that moment on the train, where he was like, ‘How do you know?’ So I think she had suspicions about Luke, because why else would she be there?”
He added, “But I think for Luke, also, in that moment, he just knew that it did not look good for him. Like he was about to essentially kill Percy, and I think he just knew like, there’s no explaining this.”
For what it’s worth, the young actor did love the efforts to keep new fans off his scent as long as possible.
“I love how the fandom, as a collective, we have all come together to like, sway people from figuring out the truth,” he said with a laugh. “Because there have been people who are like, ‘I think it could be Luke. I think Luke could possibly be the traitor.’ But all the people are like, ‘No, it’s not Luke! Him and Percy are such close friends! No, you’re crazy.’ Just like gaslighting all the new fans, which is really funny.”
You can watch TheWrap’s full interview with Bushnell in the video above.
