Marvel fans, are you ready for some good old walloping badassery?
Well, the saying is “no good deed goes unpunished” but I think in this case, this very good deed shall go very much unpunished by the fanbase.
After months of rumours, fans of the vengeful Frank Castle, a military veteran who unleashed his own unique, bloody brand of justice upon Hell’s Kitchen will be delighted to know that Jon Bernthal will once more step into the shoes of this infamous character with a full Netflix series order of Marvel’s The Punisher.
Jon Bernthal as the hotly anticipated and well-received Punisher in the second season of Daredevil.
Way back in January 2016, TV Line had caught the tiniest glimpse of a possible spin-off when the executive producer of Daredevil said this: “Viewers watching the show will be rooting for this guy with a gun but we’re also going to force people to second-guess themselves. Taking lethal justice into your own hands in America in 2015 is tricky s–t.”
This means it is Netflix’s sixth collaboration with the huge Marvel universe at the moment. With runaway hits such as Jessica Jones (so impressive it garnered a prestigious Peabody Award win), perhaps one of the best surprise television hits of the year, Daredevil and of course Jessica Jones’ spin-off Luke Cage among others, it will be something to ponder: how many more Marvel projects are Netflix planning to take on? With Entertainment Weekly reporting that they have also ordered The Defenders, which will also guest-star—hey, you guessed it—Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, it’s a messy but awesome mesh of a universe that expands and collides into each other. We’ve gotten a little teaser image for you below…
Whilst tight-lipped in January, the bosses have since spoken out about this exciting development for Netflix and Marvel fans. The executive producer and head of Marvel Television, Mr. Jeph Leob, said: “We want to thank the fans who are clamoring for more of Jon’s stunning and powerful performance as Frank Castle from ‘Marvel’s Daredevil. Now combined with showrunner Steve Lightfoot’s compelling writing, we’re thrilled to bring Marvel’s The Punisher to Netflix.”
And you heard that last snippet right—Hannibal’s executive producer Steve Lightfoot is set to become this exciting spin-off’s showrunner, which was sorely missed after a quality run—and the unfortunate and controversial lack of renewal by its network, NBC. Yet Lightfoot’s work will surely be another draw-in for Marvel fans already hungry for more content from Netflix. Lightfoot’s statement was this: “For me, the complexity and unpredictability of Frank Castle make him an incredibly compelling character and I couldn’t be more excited to dive into his world. After watching Jon’s performance in Marvel’s Daredevil I could not be more excited to be working with him to further develop and progress the story of this anti-hero in a show of his own.”
It comes as a delight but perhaps not a surprise. With Daredevil and Jessica Jones hitting the critical acclaim in all the right places, it was predictably not long before fan-favourite Frank Castle got his own spin-off—and we’ll be excited to see what a raw, powerful, gritty show they’ll create!
For the meantime, let’s not say Netflix don’t ever tease us…
The Punisher is back. Locked and loaded.https://t.co/nGKCa2taEV
— Netflix US (@netflix) April 29, 2016
Great news in my opion, looks like Netflix and Marvel are definitely creating a partnership made in heaven … thanks for the report on it, can’t wait to see Luke Cage and the Punisher. I wonder if they’ll live up to the quality of Daredevil and Jessica Jones (like you say it won a Peabody) but it’s been hyped for so long!
i agree with kim but I think i am a bit more pessimistic about this whole netflix/marvel thing … I feel like they are doing too much. Why not just keep luke cage in the jessica jones series which is obviously a favorite? Why not keep the punisher in daredevil’s? It just feels like there’s too much and they could be taking on more quality shows of different type.
Glad to see your writing on a good platform Nicola! A different style to your usual I think, your analysis stuff was much better i think i say can for everyone who has followed your work, but I think everyone only visited the previous site beforehand because you shook it up with your style. I hope you can do the same to TV after dark, rather than just reviews (which I’d like to see because i do like reviews) but the things on your wordpress no other website or journalist covers so if it’s too different for here i think you’ve proven on your wordpress and on twitter your writing gets a lot of debate going! Thanks, nice to see you on another platform and a bigger one too!
I’ve been quietly following your work since Talk Nerdy With Us, for its unique style and brand, almost. I can almost tell it’s you writing. For someone who claims not to be a writer you have a natural knack for it. I still remember what hooked me: the Lexa and Roan fight analysis in which you weaved clearly superior knowledge and simplified it for us to learn, and never made it condescending, and explained it through those many gifs you made and slow-motioned certain parts. After that it was like every article you wrote got better. It was still related to television but what I liked about you was your ability to stay close to the fandom, gauge their reaction and pull out something that people could empathize with. I don’t think a lot of critics do that, and your pieces following Lexa’s death, in my opinion, beat out a lot of critics’ - not only for the hard statistics, but because you took the time to listen to fandom.
And I hope TV After Dark, which seems a more professional set-up and a huger follower count, will do you good, because I think you’re the kind of writer that needs that space to air those opinions and lend a voice to ones that need support, as you’ve proven so well. So congratulations on landing this position, in what looks like a rung far above the ladder, and I hope you get to do some more excellently unique and captivating pieces rather than just recap after recap (though even if you did I’m sure you’d put your own style to it). I think your best in my opinion was probably your Shaw/POI article on your WordPress, which was mind-blowing. Some of your pieces - I’ve never seen pieces like them before. And it’s more than just reviewing and recaps (everywhere does them!) it’s just unique and deep, deep research, and I really look forward to that from you, and I hope TV After Dark is the perfect fit for you, because you deserve that and you deserve the recognition. The fact that big-time critics like in Variety recognized your quality says it all. Looking forward to more from you, Nicola - I think many fans only ever visited that website for your articles in the first place!