Jon Bernthal to Reprise The Punisher Role in Disney+'s "Daredevil: Born Again"

American actor Jon Bernthal is set to reprise his role as Frank Castle, aka antihero the Punisher, in Marvel Studios’ "Daredevil: Born Again" for Disney+.

Bernthal joins Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio in the upcoming series, which begins shooting in New York this month. 

"Daredevil: Born Again" consists of 18 episodes and is expected to bow in the spring of 2024. Writers and executive producers Matt Corman and Chris Ord are behind the show.

The series takes its title from a landmark Daredevil storyline published in 1986, written by Frank Miller and drawn by David Mazzuchelli.

The project is deviating from that plot, although to what extent is unclear. The Punisher, for example, made no appearance in the comic story. Daredevil versus Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, remains the main plot.

Bernthal first played the grieving father-turned-vigilante on Netflix’s version of "Daredevil", debuting the character during 2016’s second season. He headlined his own series for Netflix, playing the titular character for two seasons of "The Punisher", which spanned 2017-19.

"Daredevil: Born Again" follows Netflix’s Daredevil series that ran for three seasons from 2013 to 2018. 

That was known as the Netflix era of Marvel television and was back when the shows were not integrated with Marvel’s movie side. Marvel TV, then run by Jeph Loeb, produced a number of series for Netflix, including "Jessica Jones", "Luke Cage", and "Iron Fist" on top of "Daredevil" and "Punisher". 

Netflix canceled its Marvel shows ahead of the late 2019 launch of the competing streaming service, Disney+.

Bernthal and his co-stars, it seemed, were done with Marvel. However, Marvel boss Kevin Feige revealed in January 2021 that he considered the Netflix characters to still be in play, and by the end of the year, Cox was revealed to have a cameo in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and went on to appear in "She-Hulk". His Daredevil co-star D’Onofrio appeared in "Hawkeye".

Both Cox and D’Onofrio are key figures in the upcoming "Echo", a series said to set the stage for "Born Again".

However, other actors from the Netflix Daredevil series are not expected to return. Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson, who played classic supporting characters Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, respectively, are not on the roll call for the Marvel series. 

Bernthal was already known to genre fans when he joined Daredevil thanks to his breakout role as Shane Walsh in "The Walking Dead" and the Marvel role solidified him as a comic book favorite. 

In recent years, the actor has also appeared in the Oscar-winning "King Richard" and Sopranos prequel "The Many Saints of Newark", while on TV he headlined the recent Showtime series "American Gigolo".

In late 2021, Bernthal spoke with THR about the possibility of Frank Castle joining the MCU, and indicated he would hope to retain the darkness of the Netflix portrayal.

“I think if there’s any let up on that character, you do a disservice to the character, to every iteration of the character, to every comic book that’s come before, and to all of the unbelievable fans of the character,” said the actor. 

“This character means so much to people in the military. So like I said before, it’s not about whether you do the character; it’s about whether you can do it right, and I’m only interested in doing it right.”