"No-holds-barred version of Frank"— Jon Bernthal hypes up his upcoming The Punisher special for Marvel
For the first time since 2019, Jon Bernthal is finally back as The Punisher. After last playing the role in season 2 of his own Marvel show on Netflix, the actor returned as the character in this week's Daredevil: Born Again episode 4 and got back into the mold of the character. However, that's not just where all the Frank Castle goodness is going to end, as Bernthal has another surprise for fans.
Sitting down with Entertainment Weekly, Jon Bernthal discussed his return as The Punisher and revealed the upcoming special that he pitched to Marvel Studios based on the character. Set to release next year on Disney+, the special is being written by Bernthal himself and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green.
Hyping itself up as a "no-holds-barred version of Frank [Castle]," Bernthal hyped up the upcoming The Punisher special by calling it, well, "special".
"The story that we've laid out is, I think, really special. It's the visceral, psychologically complex, unforgiving, no-holds-barred version of Frank where he's going to turn his back to the audience," said Bernthal.
He continued:
"And nothing is easy and all violence has a cost, and we're going to see that cost. I'm grateful that they're letting me go to the places that I really want to go."
Jon Bernthal reveals how he originally didn't return as The Punisher
Earlier in the same interview, Jon Bernthal spoke about how he originally didn't return to play the character again in Daredevil: Born Again. It is widely known that the show went through a major retooling behind the scenes when original writers Chris Ord and Matt Corman were let go after Marvel Studios wasn't satisfied with the initial work that was done.
This led to them bringing in writer Dario Scarpadane to helm a new pilot and write additional new episodes while restructuring the vision of the show. While the original version of Daredevil: Born Again was set to be a soft reboot, this new version was more in line with the Netflix Daredevil series.
In that original vision, Jon Bernthal was set to return as The Punisher, but initially declined the offer to do so as he didn't like the vision for the character in it.
"Ultimately, I didn't see it. I didn't see the version of Frank, and what they wanted from Frank [didn't] really make sense to me and I thought would not appeal to the fans and wouldn't be congruent," said Bernthal.
He continued:
"It was not something I was really interested in doing. So we had to walk away."
However, the new vision of the show was able to sway him and he eventually returned as the character.
How does The Punisher fit into Daredevil: Born Again?
In Daredevil: Born Again, a storyline is established where corrupt cops have adopted the Punisher logo to dish out justice in his name. This all comes to a head when a man dressed up as the vigilante kills Hector Ayala. When Matt finds a bullet casing at the crime scene with the vigilante's logo on it, he seeks out Frank Castle.
There Frank shows his hatred for cops and shows disgust at them being his fans. This pretty much leads to Frank joining the show in the latest episode.
Fans can certainly expect to see more of the character in the upcoming episodes. For further updates, stay tuned with us.
