"One batch, two batch, penny and dime..."
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 has been somewhat hesitant to discuss his return in recent interviews, but has now taken to social media to share an unmistakable tease that the ultra-violent vigilante will soon ride again.
Though this won't mean much to anyone who hasn't seen the Netflix shows, Castle took this line from his daughter's favorite storybook as a mantra of sorts when he began to take out criminals as The Punisher. He used to read the story to her before bed, but said he was too tired the night he returned from serving overseas and promised to read it the next night. His family was killed the next day, and he never got to keep his word.
In a 2023 interview, Bernthal promised that he's going to ensure that we get a comic-accurate take on The Punisher 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 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, they will reprise their respective roles as Foggy Nelson and Karen Page after all.
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, but is still listed as being on Disney's updated 2024 schedule.