Daredevil’s Jon Bernthal Teases ”Dark” Punisher Special: “The Version That This Character Deserves”

Welcome back, Frank. Now that Daredevil has been Born Again on Disney+, The Punisher is taking aim at his own revival in a Marvel Television special akin to the Marvel Studios special presentations Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. The standalone special — which stars Jon Bernthal as gun-toting vigilante Frank Castle, a role the actor has played on Netflix’s Daredevil and The Punisher — spins out of Daredevil: Born Again, which marks Bernthal’s return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time since season 2 of his graphically violent solo series in 2019.

In a new interview pegged to the upcoming action-thriller The Accountant 2, Bernthal teased that Marvel’s Punisher special will be just as punishing as fans expect from the hardcore anti-hero.

“I care very deeply about Frank, I’m really grateful that I’m getting the opportunity to tell the story that I think the fans deserve,” Bernthal told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re giving it our all and we’re trying to tell a Frank Castle story that we’re going to turn our back on the audience — it’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be light, and I think it’s the version that this character deserves and I’m just beyond honored and grateful that we get the opportunity.”

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Bernthal is co-writing the special with Reinaldo Marcus Green, marking a reunion with the actor’s We Own This City director. (The HBO series tracked police corruption in the ranks of the Baltimore PD; corrupt cops are the thread that pulls Bernthal’s Frank Castle into the action in upcoming episodes of Daredevil: Born Again.)

“It’s going to be dark; Frank has no interest in breaking out the darkness. It’s not going to be easy,” Bernthal said when asked about comparisons to the Netflix series, which ran for two seasons. “I don’t know, if that’s the Netflix tone, then that’s what it’s going to be. It will not be Punisher-lite, I promise you that.”

In 2017, after butting heads with Charlie Cox’s Devil of Hell’s Kitchen in Daredevil season 2, Bernthal told ComicBook he was ready to take on the responsibility of the role for his own Netflix series.

“I get how much this guy means to so many people. I think that, when you look at a comic book, and the medium of comic books, not to be on my high horse, to read a comic book, it requires so much imagination. It requires the audience to use that imagination,” he said. “The Punisher’s been around since the 70s. I think anytime the audience puts so much of their own imagination into it, this character really belongs to the audience, really belongs to the fans. I get that, and I respect that.”

Bernthal continued, “I know how important he is to so many people – I’ve said before that I know how important this character is to people in law enforcement and the military. That’s something that means an enormous amount to me. Guys putting the Punisher insignia on their body armor and their equipment as they’ve gone into battle and fight for this country, that’s something I take very seriously.”

Daredevil: Born Again showrunner Dario Scardapane, also a writer and executive producer on The Punisher, will have his own reunion with Frank when Bernthal returns to the streets of Hell’s Kitchen in upcoming episodes of the Marvel TV series. New episodes premiere Tuesday nights on Disney+.