Jon Bernthal was asked to play Punisher in original version of Daredevil: Born Again, but he turned it down.
Jon Bernthal recently made his official debut as The Punisher in the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Daredevil: Born Again, but the actor told Entertainment Weekly that he initially refused to reprise the role.
Before Daredevil: Born Again underwent a creative overhaul, Bernthal was asked if he would be interested in joining the series. However, he disagreed with the original plans for the character. “Ultimately, I didn’t see it. I didn’t see the version of Frank, and what they wanted from Frank [didn’t] really make sense to me and I thought would not appeal to the fans and wouldn’t be congruent,” Bernthal said. “It was not something I was really interested in doing. So we had to walk away.“
Once new writers were brought in and Dario Scardapane took over as showrunner, Bernthal was approached again. “They really brought me into the conversation,” he said. “We really got specific about where Frank is psychologically, where Frank’s at physically.” At the end of the day, they got Frank Castle to where he needed to be. “Sometimes you have to be very, very clear with your intentions in this business,” Bernthal explained. “You can’t get confused with how much you love something, how much you love playing something, how much you want to do something. You got to make sure you’re serving it. You got to make sure you’re doing justice to the people that believe in it and doing justice to the iterations that have come before you.“
Daredevil: Born Again won’t be the last we see of the Punisher, as Bernthal is set to return for a Punisher special on Disney+. The actor even co-wrote the script with director Reinaldo Marcus Green (We Own This City). “I went through the process. I went in, I pitched, I gave an outline before I even put pen to page, and I felt like I did not want them to just hand it to me,” Bernthal said. “They had read some of my writing, asked to come and do a pitch, so I did. And they’ve held me accountable to every step along the way. I really want to earn this and I really want this to be good. The story that we’ve laid out is, I think, really special. It’s the visceral, psychologically complex, unforgiving, no-holds-barred version of Frank where he’s going to turn his back to the audience. And nothing is easy and all violence has a cost, and we’re going to see that cost. I’m grateful that they’re letting me go to the places that I really want to go.“
The first four episodes of Daredevil: Born Again are currently streaming on Disney+, and you can check out a review from our own Alex Maidy right here.
