Jon Bernthal has joined the cast of Daredevil for season 2 as the hyper-violent Marvel Comic anti-hero, The Punisher. Season 2 which premiered in full via Netflix yesterday finds Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox) going head to head with The Punisher.
Playing The Punisher was a cerebral role for Bernthal, requiring him to go to dark place mentally to capture the essence of the character. Per ABC News:
“Us actors do weird stuff, man,” he told ABC News at the show’s premiere last week. “There’s no way I could even begin to tackle this role if I wasn’t a father and a husband in my mind.”
In the comics Frank Castle becomes “The Punisher” after his wife and two children are murdered in Central Park during a mob shootout.
“You realize what it’s like to love somebody more than yourself and be willing to give up your life for them in a heartbeat. It all starts there and it definitely gets pretty dark, pretty quickly.”
Bernthal is not a stranger to playing darker roles, as his most notable role as “Shane” in The Walking Dead was also sinister.
Watch Daredevil Season 2 here.
