Falcon and the Winter Soldier Almost Included The Punisher’s Jigsaw Actor Ben Barnes

We’re officially one episode away from the conclusion of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and fans are eager to see exactly what the finale brings for its corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The globe-trotting series has introduced a number of interesting characters from across the MCU, some established and some relatively new — and apparently, The Punisher alum Ben Barnes was almost a part of that. In a recent Instagram Live session with Rotten Tomatoes, which you can see a clip of captured below, Barnes revealed that he actually spoke to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier director Kari Skogland about potentially being involved in a role in the series, but was not able to follow through with it due to his role on Netflix’s Shadow and Bone (the first season of which happens to debut on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s finale day).

“And [Kari Skogland] actually messaged me saying she was doing [The Falcon and the Winter Soldier] and that there might be a character for me in it. And I was just about to do Shadow and Bone, so I didn’t even know what it might be.”

At this point, there’s really no telling exactly what role Barnes could have ended up getting on the Disney+ series, although fans will surely speculate. There’s also the fact that Barnes previously made an impact on the live-action Marvel universe as Billy Russo/Jigsaw in The Punisher, although the nature of that show being “canon” in the MCU is still up for debate. As Barnes revealed in a 2019 interview, he had previously spoken to Marvel about taking another role in the universe.

“I did talk to them about something this year, but it was a bit too close to doing The Punisher, I think, for them,” Barnes revealed back in 2019. “But, you know, they have proof that you can – particularly if it was on TV, you can go back and do a movie if there’s a character that’s right.”

“I was definitely talking about a couple of superheroes last year,” Barnes continued. “No. It didn’t work out for whatever reason, but definitely, there’s still room for that in my future. As long as they hurry up. I don’t want to be a 50-year-old superhero.”

Watch The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+.

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