Clancy Brown Praises the Creative Freedom of ‘Daredevil’ and ‘The Punisher’

Clancy Brown has become a pretty prolific part of comic book media in recent years, thanks to his roles on The Flash, Thor: Ragnarok, and Marvel’s Netflix shows. And while the task of taking on a familiar comic book character might be daunting to some, Brown has found that shows like Daredevil and The Punisher are a good avenue to do so.

In a recent interview with SyfyWire, Brown was asked about his role as Colonel Ray Schoonover/Blacksmith, which he debuted on Daredevil and recently reprised in season one of The Punisher. As he explained, he’s enjoyed the comic book realm for quite a while, and sees a connection between it and how Daredevil and The Punisher are currently being handled onscreen.

“I’ve always been a fan, it was always kind of forbidden when I was a kid.” Brown explained. “Now that geek culture has been embraced, you could argue that it’s taken over a little too much. Something like Punisher (is a live action character) that kind of has to be solved, but I think they’re doing a good job now of both Daredevil and Punisher. They hadn’t really been done well until Netflix did them.”

Brown then likened both Daredevil and Punisher to his most recent Netflix venture, season two of Trollhunters. As he argued, all three shows are given a chance to take things in a new, creative direction, as opposed to just fulfilling comic book canon.

“Just like Trollhunters, they give the creators the freedom to do it. That said, I like doing stuff like Trollhunters because it’s original, ya know? You’re not trying to satisfy somebody else’s expectation or some old guy my age, ‘Colonel Schoonover would never do that!’ [Laughs] What do I know? I get paid to do what they tell me to do.”

While Brown’s Daredevil and Punisher character might currently be deceased, neither show seems to be slowing down anytime soon. Daredevil‘s third season is expected to premiere sometime in 2018, and is rumored to be an adaptation of the iconic “Born Again” comic storyline. And sometime after that will come a second installment of The Punisher, which could be headed towards the “Welcome Back Frank” storyline.

Daredevil and The Punisher are both streaming on Netflix.