"Frank is in My Bones": Jon Bernthal on Returning for The Punisher Special

The Punisher, played by Jon Bernthal, made his debut in the second season of Daredevil on Netflix. His performance as a dark, vengeful, and murderous anti-hero earned him a huge fan following and acclaim. He also went on to headline a solo series simply titled "The Punisher" for two seasons. However, the series was canceled after the second season was streamed on Netflix in 2019.

In February 2025, it was revealed that a Disney+ special featuring The Punisher, co-written by Jon Bernthal, was in the works. This was confirmed by Bernthal himself, who has spoken about it ever since the news of the special broke to the news outlets. The actor commented most recently at the 2025 Cinemacon presentation for the upcoming The Accountant 2. He said:

“I've said it a million times: Frank is in my bones, is in my heart. I care about him."

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What do the Punisher actor's comments mean?

Jon Bernthal's comments exemplify why the fans love him as Frank Castle/The Punisher. The actor's phenomenal performance as the character showed fans for a while that they could trust him to bring that character to life. Bernthal was cited as one of the Netflix Marvel Universe's highlights in the original series' run. His return in the fourth episode of Daredevil: Born Again, "Sic Semper Systema", proved that Bernthal did not miss a beat as The Punisher.

The actor was a part of Amazon MGM Studio's Cinemacon 2025 panel, as he was there to promote The Accountant 2, which will be released in April 2025. Steve Weintraub, the editor-in-chief of Collider, caught up with the Frank Castle actor and asked him about The Punisher special. Bernthal expressed his views:

"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. 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."

These comments have fans optimistic about the solo special featuring Frank Castle/Punisher.

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