Jon Bernthal Confirms He Initially Turned Down ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Because He Disagreed With Disney’s Plans For The Punisher: “What They Wanted From Frank Would Not Appeal To The Fans”
In proving that there are still actors who care about creative integrity, Jon Bernthal that he initially turned down Disney”s offer to reprise his fan-favorite role as the Punisher for Daredevil: Born Again due to disagreements with the House of Mouse’s original plans for the skull-clad vigilante.
As previously reported, word of Bernthal’s creative break with Disney was first raised in February 2024 courtesy of TikTok star Cameron Silas, who claimed to have learned of this development directly from Bernthal himself while speaking during his scheduled signing appearance at that year’s Atlanta Comic Con.
“Had the pleasure of meeting Jon Bernthal again today!” wrote Silas. “Got to talk to him about Daredevil: Born Again. He told me he hated what they were doing with DD before the whole rewrite, and he actually turned down the project but now that Karen is back (amongst other things) he’s back in.”
While many fans were skeptical of Silas’ anecdote given that Bernthal had already agreed to return, the TikToker is now taking a well-deserved victory lap, as the actor recently confirmed that everything she relayed was 100% true.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly‘s Nick Romano following Frank’s return in Daredevil: Born Again‘s fourth episode, ‘Sic Semper Systema‘, Bernthal explained that he initially declined to join the Disney Plus series because “Ultimately, I didn’t see it. I didn’t see the version of Frank, and what they wanted from Frank [didn’t] really make sense to me and I thought would not appeal to the fans and wouldn’t be congruent.”
“It was not something I was really interested in doing,” he bluntly added. “So we had to walk away.”
But as we now know, despite his initial refusal to return to the MCU, Bernthal would ultimately change his mind after Marvel Studios opted to take Born Again back to the drawing board.
This about-face, said the actor, was based specifically on the fact that unlike Disney’s previous ‘showrunner committee’ – which included Marvel boss Kevin Feige, Marvel Comics editor Sana Amanat, Disney’s Louis D’Esposito, Secret Invasion co-producer Chris Gary, and original Born Again series writers Matt Corman and Chris Ord – dedicated showrunner Dario Scardapone and the rest of the production team actively sought his input in developing the next chapter of Punisher’s story.
“They really brought me into the conversation,” he said. “We really got specific about where Frank is psychologically, where Frank’s at physically.”
Taking a beat to offer his thoughts on the entire developmental rollercoaster, Bernthal then noted, “Sometimes you have to be very, very clear with your intentions in this business.”
“You can’t get confused with how much you love something, how much you love playing something, how much you want to do something,” he explained. “You got to make sure you’re serving it. You got to make sure you’re doing justice to the people that believe in it and doing justice to the iterations that have come before you.”
Ultimately closing out the interview with a tease of his upcoming Punisher ‘Special Presentation’, Bernthal assured fans that this same ‘respect the character’ mentality was at the forefront of his writing process.
“I went through the process,” he told his host. “I went in, I pitched, I gave an outline before I even put pen to page, and I felt like I did not want them to just hand it to me. They had read some of my writing, asked to come and do a pitch, so I did. And they’ve held me accountable to every step along the way. I really want to earn this and I really want this to be good. The story that we’ve laid out is, I think, really special. It’s the visceral, psychologically complex, unforgiving, no-holds-barred version of Frank where he’s going to turn his back to the audience. And nothing is easy and all violence has a cost, and we’re going to see that cost. I’m grateful that they’re letting me go to the places that I really want to go.”
At current, Marvel’s Punisher special has yet to receive an official release date.
More About:TV Show News