Frank Castle’s raw and heartfelt exchange with the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen proved to be Jon Bernthal’s favorite scene in Daredevil season 2, and in a recent interview with Awards Daily, the actor teased that there’s still plenty to come from his lauded portrayal of The Punisher.
It proved to be a performance worthy of a spinoff series, with Netflix and Marvel finally issuing the green light on a Frank Castle-fronted offshoot after months of speculation.
Now, Bernthal has reflected on his debut as the gun-toting mercenary, and why “the Frank Castle you find in [Daredevil Season 2] is not The Punisher.”
Per Awards Daily:
“I think when you’re talking about characters like these, the way they fight, what’s motivating the fight is very important. Beating someone up to drag them into jail is different than someone who is exercising his rage on people. The Frank Castle you find in this story is not The Punisher. He’s reeling from the loss of his family. He’s driven by rage and is on a singular mission to find these people who took his family from him, and do it as brutally as possible.”
When it comes to that aforementioned scene, Bernthal outlines why his emotional outpouring to Matt Murdock (AKA Red) in the graveyard remains near and dear.
“A big part of this guy is a guy searching for himself. He’s got pain, regret and remorse. There’s the graveyard scene where he opens up. He delivers this scene where he explains what it’s like to come home and see his daughter. It was such a gift from John C. Kelley. I had been away from my kids for three months, and I was at the crux of my own torture, going through that….He’s in an unbelievably amount of pain. That speech was the anchor of the season for me.”
Steve Lightfoot is the showrunner at the helm of The Punisher series, though Netflix and Marvel are yet to unveil a release timeline for the Daredevil spinoff.
