The Punisher took nearly 10 years to return, but why did Marvel have to wait so long to bring Jon Bernthal back as Frank Castle?

Almost nine years have passed since the time when Jon Bernthal first starred as the lead in his very own The Punisher series. And now, finally, the Punisher is back in the limelight of Marvel once again. However, the trip from the brutal Netflix crime drama to Disney+ has not been an easy one. The first series aired in November 2017 and was cancelled after only two seasons in February 2019.

Though Bernthal did eventually reprise the role in Daredevil: Born Again, it took several years before Marvel decided to grant his character yet another solo venture.

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So, why was Frank Castle out of commission for so long?

Why did Netflix cancel Jon Bernthal's The Punisher?

With the release of The Punisher series on Netflix, a very different experience was provided compared to the colourful stories involving Marvel’s superheroes. In this series, Bernthal played the character of Frank Castle who is a man who transforms into a violent vigilante after losing his wife and children.

However, with time, the future of this series got doubtful as the alliance between Netflix and Marvel started getting deteriorated.

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In December 2018, several other Marvel series like Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist were cancelled as well.

Eventually, in February 2019, Netflix officially cancelled The Punisher series. The second season of the show, which came just a month before, became its last season.

This timing was very important as Disney was about to introduce its own streaming service called Disney+.

The whole world of entertainment was rapidly evolving.

The television collaboration between Marvel and Netflix was practically at its end since Disney was concentrating on creating its own streaming content.

Nonetheless, Netflix did not officially name low ratings and the quality of the series as the causes of the cancellation of Daredevil. This decision happened in the context of the overall failure of the partnership between the two companies.

The fans were disappointed because the character played by Bernthal never got a normal end to his television story.

Why did Marvel take so long to bring Frank Castle back?

The cancellation did not give Marvel an immediate opportunity to reboot the character’s narrative because the company was facing a period of fundamental change in its management of TV properties.

While Netflix had established a unique tone for its Marvel shows through darker narratives and fairly grounded action, Marvel Studios was developing content for Disney+ in an interconnected film universe.

Rights to the live-action adaptation of The Punisher still belonged to Netflix as a result of the Netflix deal. But by February 2021, Marvel acquired the rights to the character, which became a major step towards further appearances.

However, gaining rights and figuring out what to do with the character were two separate things.

Marvel had to decide where to place the character of Frank Castle within its expanding universe. The character's brutal approach, psychological issues, and morally ambiguous nature set him apart from other typical superheroes in the franchise.

There was the additional issue of Bernthal reprising his role. It would be a tough decision to recast him in the same role, especially considering that he had become very familiar with the character.

Marvel finally solved this problem through the show Daredevil: Born Again, which saw Charlie Cox reprise his role as Matt Murdock.

Jon Bernthal did not want a watered-down Punisher

A crucial component of the delay also included the creative vision of the character’s revival.

Bernthal has been known to repeatedly stress the need to depict him as a very disturbed person instead of making him an ordinary action figure. It was especially relevant at the moment of Marvel’s development of Daredevil: Born Again.

Speaking in an interview for Entertainment Weekly, Bernthal explained that he wasn’t particularly fond of the previous version of the project, which did not seem consistent with the character as the fans had known him before.

As a result, the project received a complete makeover. The writer of the former Punisher show, Dario Scardapane, joined the team as a showrunner, and Bernthal began working on the character’s story more actively.

It was much more than just a throwback in the form of Daredevil: Born Again. This proved that Marvel was capable of reintroducing him while retaining all the attributes which had made him so successful.

The actor Bernthal also wanted to make sure that the violence of Punisher had an emotional undertone to it.

The moves and actions of Frank should not look too effortless like those of any other superhero.

How The Punisher: One Last Kill finally became possible

The next phase occurred when Bernthal came up with an idea to tell a separate Punisher story while developing Season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again.

Instead of just returning the character for yet another long season on television, Marvel proceeded with The Punisher: One Last Kill, which was presented as a special for Disney+.

As a matter of fact, Bernthal worked on The Punisher: One Last Kill together with director Reinaldo Marcus Green, giving the actor more involvement in the next stage of the character’s journey.

Green mentioned in an interview with Disney that Bernthal reached out to him almost a year and a half prior to the shooting.

Frank tries to discover meaning as he goes through the process of revenge for the people who killed his family in this story. This process is hampered by the introduction of Ma Gnucci, a criminal.

This special was aired on May 12, 2026, providing viewers with a fresh story that took place almost seven years after the cancellation of the original series by Netflix.

With its smaller scale, Marvel could also explore only one story at a time without having to produce another multi-season show.

Was the nine-year wait worth it?

This time apart from the original series and the special was not based on one particular choice or the problem with the production process.

This break happened because of new corporate connections, changes in strategy and difficulties in finding the right place for such a controversial character as Frank Castle.

But most importantly, the participation of Bernthal guaranteed that the revival would be based on his interpretation of the character rather than only the popularity of the actor and the use of nostalgia.

The nine years of waiting showed how difficult the revival of some superhero characters is. People not only need to see a familiar face, but also the same personality and emotions, which made the original actor's performance famous.

In the case of Bernthal's Punisher, this long break turned out to be an important element of the story. Marvel had to find a way to return Frank Castle without losing what makes him unique.