"You hit them and they get back up, I hit them and they stay down."
After years of rumors and sly teases, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Jon Bernthal will reprise his role as Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, in Marvel Studios' upcoming Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again.
He reunites with former co-stars Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock/Dardevil) and Vincent D'Onofrio (Wilson Fisk/Kingpin), ahead of the show kicking off production on its eighteen-episode freshman season later this month in New York.
Newcomers to the series include Michael Gandolfini, Margarita Levieva, Sandrine Holt, and Nikki M. James.
Covert Affairs creators Matt Corman and Chris Ord are serving as showrunners.
While plot details remain under heavy lock-and-key, the series will draw some inspiration from the "Born Again" storyline, albeit while also making some drastic changes, including the addition of The Punisher. The focal point will remain seeing The Man Without Fear take on the Kingpin, but the creative freedom will allow the MCU to further build out its roster of street-level heroes.
Bernthal made his debut as Frank Castle in Daredevil season two, before launching his own spinoff series The Punisher, which ran for two seasons. He's now the third Marvel/Netflix star to join the MCU, following Cox in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk, and D'Onofrio in Hawkeye.
With Bernthal now officially onboard, it's fair to wonder whether some of the other Netflix heroes - Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) & Iron Fist (Finn Jones) - could make their way back as well.
However, one thing THR has uncovered is that neither Deborah Ann Woll nor Elden Henson are expected to reprise their roles as Karen Page or Foggy Nelson, respectively, and it's unclear whether those characters will be recast or just omitted from the story entirely.
Daredevil: Born Again is tentatively scheduled to debut, exclusively on Disney+, in Spring 2024.