Jon Bernthal has shared an update on the behind-the-scenes progress of his upcoming Punisher special, and teased "an incredible group" being assembled to work on the project.
"I've said it a million times: Frank is in my bones, is in my heart. I care about him," Bernthal told Collider at CinemaCon 2025. "In discussing what this thing could be and this sort of version of Frank that I really felt that the audience was hungry for, that the military community was hungry for it, the first responder community, the comic book fans, they were really hungry for it. I presented that version to them, and they encouraged me. They encouraged me to keep coming to the table."
It was confirmed that the character would be getting a Werewolf By Night-style special (that is, a standalone TV movie) this past February, ahead of Punisher's MCU debut in Daredevil: Born Again. Just what this might entail remains under wraps, but Marvel Television boss Brad Winderbaum teased that "it's like a shotgun blast of a story, but also has all the pathos and emotion that you want out of a Frank Castle story. It's so exciting."
Bernthal continued, "As we were talking with different writers, the ideas that we were coming up with started to resonate, and I think they saw how much they resonated with me. I got a great group of vets that I work with. One in particular, my friend Nick, he's just been incredible. I hope that it goes alright. I don't like talking about these things because it's a little bit of bark before there's a bite, you know? I'm honored and I'm grateful. It's an incredible group of people that we're assembling."
The actor is best known for playing Frank Castle, AKA the vigilante Punisher, in Netflix's Defenders Saga back in the mid-2010s. He then made a brief appearance in Daredevil: Born Again episode 4, when Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock sought his help in getting to the bottom of White Tiger's death.
Daredevil: Born Again is released weekly on Disney Plus. Never miss an episode with our Daredevil: Born Again release schedule, or get up to speed with our spoiler-free verdict with our Daredevil: Born Again season 1 review.
