The upcoming Disney+ show, Daredevil: Born Again, has welcomed back Jon Bernthal to reprise his iconic Punisher role from the original Netflix series.
Today, sources have confirmed that Jon Bernthal will be returning as one of the most famous characters from Marvel Comics. Yes, that is right. Bernthal will continue playing Frank Castle, aka the anti-hero The Punisher, in the Marvel Studios and Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again.
Bernthal has been announced alongside his old cast mates Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio, who are also expected to reprise their roles. Spoiler alert, if you have not seen the other Marvel Studios/Disney+ shows, Cox and D’Onofrio have already made their comebacks to their roles as cameos on other shows and movies—She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye.
Shooting for the series will begin this month in New York, and it was already revealed to be the longest-running Marvel Studios show slated on Disney+. Most of the other shows had between six to nine episodes to flesh out their superhero stories. Daredevil: Born Again will have 18 episodes to play with the red devil.
This would make sense since this series is not supposed to be a direct sequel to the Netflix series but more of a reboot for the purpose of tying into the overarching story across the MCU. Daredevil: Born Again will be pulling from source material in its 1986 storyline publication run, written by Frank Miller and drawn by David Mazzuchelli.
The show would already slightly deviate from the original version, which had no involvement from The Punisher. However, the Daredevil versus Wilson Fisk (Kingpin) storyline was said to be the central plot of the show still. Bernthal played The Punisher since the second season of Netflix’s Daredevil back in 2016. His performance of the character and the great storytelling drove Bernthal to play the character in his own spin-off series, The Punisher, which ran from 2017-19.
Back in 2021, Bernthal told The Hollywood Reporter about how he would like to play Frank Castle again and how he would “only be interested in doing it right.” He went on, “I think if there’s any let up on that character, you do a disservice to the character, to every iteration of the character, to every comic book that’s come before, and to all of the unbelievable fans of the character.” The actor continued, “This character means so much to people in the military. So like I said before, it’s not about whether you do the character; it’s about whether you can do it right, and I’m only interested in doing it right.”
Unfortunately, other staple actors from Netflix’s Daredevil series don’t seem to be returning for their supporting roles. Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson were Cox’s trusty sidekicks, Karen Page and Foggy Nelson. Currently, it is unclear if Marvel Studios will be recasting the roles or waiting to surprise fans. Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios have yet to officially announce Bernthal’s involvement in Daredevil: Born Again. The new show is expected to come out in 2024.
