Jon Bernthal starred as Frank Castle in both seasons of The Punisher on Netflix, the second of which aired earlier this year on the streaming service, which also served as its final season, but the actor thinks that the power of Castle’s story is more timely than ever. The character had been previously brought to life for the big screen, dating back to Dolph Lundgren in The Punisher in 1989, but Bernthal’s take on the character and the timeliness of his backstory proved to be a hit with fans in his debut in Season Two of Daredevil, leading him to get his own spinoff series.
“We have sort of this generation of literally the best among us, the special forces community of guys that are being used at an incredibly high rate,” Bernthal shared with Uproxx about the character. “You know, those numbers of deployments and operations are staggering. Again, I can’t begin to tell you how much respect and love I have for that community and the folks in that community that have sort of welcomed me in. So I think that the Frank Castle story really hits home right now, and I think that’s a giant part of it as well.”
While the Marvel series on Netflix might have become hits with audiences, Disney’s development of its own streaming service ultimately resulted in the connection between the two companies being severed, including the cancellation of those original series. Bernthal pointed out that, despite there being no plans for the character to return in any project at this point, the actor would love to reprise the role, so long as that potential story is developed for the right reasons.
“You know how it is. We know nothing about that process, and I welcome that,” the actor admitted. “I love playing Frank. I love the Frank fan base. I love how much he means to people in the military community and the law enforcement community, the comic book fans are the best fans in the world. I care about the guy in my heart. So I was super grateful for the opportunity. And I think, like I said, to me, it’s really not about whether you do it or not, it’s just really getting it right and doing the version of him that does it justice. And, of course, I’ll always care about Frank with everything I got.”
Stay tuned for details on the potential future of Frank Castle.
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