The Netflix Marvel shows may have made a few choices fans weren't fully on board with, but one thing pretty much everyone seems to be able to agree on is that Jon Bernthal was an inspired choice to play Frank Castle, aka The Punisher.
The Walking Dead alum debuted as Castle during the second season of Daredevil and went on to headline two seasons of his own series. There were rumors early on that Bernthal was in talks to reprise the role for the Disney+ Daredevil: Born Again relaunch, and fans were very happy once his return was finally confirmed.
We still don't know how the Punisher will factor into the show, but Daniel Richtman has heard that the character will have a substantial part to play.
According to the scooper, Castle already had a pretty big role prior to the reshoots, but the recent overhaul expanded his storyline to include a subplot in which the ultra-violent vigilante "hunts dirty cops that use his symbol."
We've heard something similar before, but how this all ties in to the main plot involving the Man Without Fear's ongoing conflict with the Kingpin remains to be seen. If Fisk's mayoral campaign does involve him promising to clean up the streets, we'd imagine the Punisher would be an even bigger problem for the villain than Daredevil, which could well lead to Castle and Murdock joining forces.
Last we heard, The Punisher writer Dario Scardapane had come aboard as the project's new showrunner, but that's yet to be made official.
Specific plot details are still under wraps, but we know that Born Again will see Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox) face-off against his old nemesis the Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio), and some recent set photos (see below) confirmed rumors that both Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll will reprise their respective roles as Foggy Nelson and Karen Page from the Netflix series.
The show is not expected to run for the originally announced 18 episodes. A recent rumor claimed that it would likely air 9 (possibly 6) episodes before taking a mid-season break.
The upcoming Disney+ series doesn't have an official release date yet.