After debuting in Netflix's Daredevil and starring in two seasons of his own Punisher spin-off series, Jon Bernthal is set to reprise the role of Frank Castle in Disney+'s Daredevil: Born Again.
Despite the trades confirming the news, The Bear actor is still somewhat hesitant to discuss his return, but he did share a few interesting details with Screen Rant. In a new interview, Bernthal was asked if we can expect Frank to have grown as a character since we last saw him.
"I don't know yet; I don't know. It's too early to tell. And you know how Marvel is, I really can't say anything anyway. But I care about Frank deeply, and no matter how much Frank grows, he's always going to be the same."
This is really the basis of the character, at the end of the day. Castle may grow and change his ways to an extent, but if he ever hangs up his guns, he stops being The Punisher.
In a previous interview, Bernthal promised that he's going to ensure that we get a comic-accurate take on the ultra-violent vigilante in Born Again.
"I also know that it’s absolutely essential that if we do it, we do it right and we have real sacred integrity to the source material and to what is at the core of Frank. I’m gonna do my absolute best to make sure that, if and when we do it, we do it right.”
Will Frank Castle be allowed to be as uncompromisingly brutal as he was in his own show? We had been led to believe that Born Again was going to be PG-13, but the recent news that the show will be released under the Marvel Spotlight banner has led to renewed speculation that it will be TV-MA.
Castle and Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) have a lot of history in the comic books, and even though they don't cross paths in Frank Miller's Born Again comic, we already know that the show is going to make some significant changes to the source material.
Initially, Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll were not going to be a part of the series, but after a significant overall, it seems they will reprise their respective roles as Foggy Nelson and Karen Page after all.
Born Again doesn't have a release date, but last week, Vincent D'Onofrio (Wilson Fisk) revealed that filming is set to resume "not long from now... in a few weeks, in fact." The actor also mentioned that the show will have a similar tone to the Netflix Daredevil series.