It’s official, folks, the Defenders-verse is no more. After pulling the plug on Daredevil, Iron Fist and Luke Cage late last year, Netflix cancelled both The Punisher and Jessica Jones – which has one season left to go – on Monday. In response to the news, The Punisher‘s official Facebook account shared a message to its fans to thank them for supporting the show over the past two seasons.
Along with a photo of Jon Bernthal in character as Frank Castle, the message reads: “It’s been an honor.” If the sentiment feels familiar, it’s taken from Bernthal’s own post in regards to the show’s cancellation, in which he said “it’s been an honor to walk in his boots” about his time portraying the Marvel anti-hero.
Bernthal first appeared as the Punisher in 2016’s Daredevil season 2 before he was given his own spinoff the following year. It’s a testament to his performance as the character that there’s been an outpouring of sadness on social media that we won’t be seeing any more of his layered take on the gun-toting vigilante. Three actors have played Castle on screen before, of course, but it’s safe to say that Bernthal’s the most popular of the lot.
But could we see more of the star as the Punisher? Well, Defenders-verse regular Royce Johnson seems to think that Marvel might have something up their sleeves and won’t simply “revamp” the character. Likewise, Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb says he wouldn’t be surprised if any of the former Netflix shows resurfaced. Bernthal himself, though, seems to already be at peace with saying goodbye to the character, so it remains to be seen whether he’d want to return.
Following The Punisher season 2’s arrival last month, we’ve just got Jessica Jones season 3 to go before this corner of the MCU is kaput. Look out for that on the streaming service later this year.
