‘Marvel’s The Punisher’ Adds Oscar Nominee to Cast

The upcoming Marvel Netflix series The Punisher has added Academy Award-nominated actress Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) as Farah Madani, a successful, Iran-born psychiatrist who has spent most of her life living in the United States.

Farah is the mother of Dinah Madani (Amber Rose Revah), a skilled Homeland Security agent tasked with pursuing ultra-violent vigilante Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), a.k.a. the Punisher.

Aghdashloo previously played Revah’s mother in the HBO mini-series House of Saddam underneath The Punisher showrunner Steve Lightfoot. Her work on the series won her an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2009.

Aghdashloo played Dr. Kavita Rao in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, and currently stars on Syfy’s The Expanse. The actress joins a cast that includes Bernthal, Revah, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Girls) as David Lieberman / Micro, Ben Barnes (Westworld) as villain Billy Russo, and Deborah Ann Woll, reprising her role of Daredevil supporting cast member Karen Page.

Stephen Sufjik, a director on the series, recently said the show will be very different from past Marvel Netflix shows Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist.

“It is different than the other Marvel shows as far as it is an adult drama. There are no superpowers. You know the Punisher is a character who is based on vengeance, fundamentally. His family is a victim of some horrific thing,” Sufjik said. “But the character himself is well-known and the way that they approach it is very different from the other shows.”

Marvel attached a teaser trailer for the series to the end credits of The Defenders, released to Netflix last week. A new look at Bernthal in full Punisher regalia followed, showing the anti-hero ready for battle and repping his iconic chest skull.

A release date for the series has yet to be announced, but fans can expect The Punisher to take aim sometime this fall.