Fans felt thrilled to see Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle/Punisher return on Disney+ MCU series, Daredevil: Born Again. After all, Bernthal’s Punisher had been a fan favorite during The Defenders’ run on Netflix’s Marvel series. Netflix even had a The Punisher series just for him. But when it came time to join back up with the Marvel Universe in Daredevil: Born Again, Bernthal initially passed. The direction of the character was just not for him. Fortunately for Bernthal and Frank Castle fans, much of Daredevil: Born Again was reworked after its first six episodes were filmed. And the new Daredevil: Born Again direction allowed Bernthal to feel comfortable to return as Punisher. The happy ending helps, but we feel Bernthal’s decisions reveal a true integrity as an actor and a deep loyalty to fans who love the character.
Here’s what Jon Bernthal had to say about how his Punisher return on Daredevil: Born Again almost didn’t happen.
Jon Bernthal revealed to Entertainment Weekly that Marvel approached him to join the first rendition of Daredevil: Born Again. But that vision of the series came off as more procedural than dramatic and did not connect to the lore of what Netflix built. Bernthal shares that, ultimately, he declined to return to Daredevil: Born Again the first time Marvel asked him. He notes of walking away from Daredevil, “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,” the actor explains. “It was not something I was really interested in doing. So we had to walk away.”
It is truly not often that we see actors declining returns to big franchises because of characterization reasons. But as we said, we really commend Jon Bernthal’s decision not to immediately say yes to Daredevil: Born Again. There’s nothing worse for fans who truly love a character than seeing them behaving in ways that don’t seem right. It’s a real pain.
Happily, things changed for Berthnal, Frank Castle, and Daredevil: Born Again. The Punisher writer and executive producer Dario Scardapane came on as showrunner of the Daredevil series. And with a new perspective, Marvel reached out to Jon Bernthal again, asking if he would come back as Punisher this time. And the rest is history. Additionally, Bernthal became an active player in Frank Castle’s trajectory, helping to craft Punisher’s story. “They really brought me into the conversation.” Bernthal adds. “We really got specific about where Frank is psychologically, where Frank’s at physically.”
Bernthal concludes of his Punisher return, “Sometimes you have to be very, very clear with your intentions in this business. “You can’t get confused with how much you love something, how much you love playing something, how much you want to do something. You got to make sure you’re serving it. You got to make sure you’re doing justice to the people that believe in it and doing justice to the iterations that have come before you.”
You can catch Jon Bernthal on Daredevil: Born Again right now. And he’ll even return again because Marvel has granted The Punisher a very exciting MCU Disney+ special.