Jon Bernthal is reprising his role as Frank Castle in The Punisher for a Disney+ special that will make history for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The upcoming Punisher special will run for 60 minutes, according to a Writer’s Guild of America listing, making it Marvel Studios’ longest special yet.
The studio has only released two special presentations so far, both in 2022. Werewolf By Night runs for 53 minutes, while the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is 42 minutes long.
Written by Bernthal and director Reinaldo Marcus Green, the untitled television special will continue Castle’s story that was established in the character’s appearances in Netflix series Daredevil and The Punisher. Bernthal will be joined by supporting actors Jason R. Moore, Roe Rancell and Mila Jaymes.
The special was created after Bernthal came up with an idea for it while filming Daredevil: Born Again, a Disney+ series that released last year.
The Walking Dead actor took on his role as the Punisher, a vigilante who kills criminals, during season two of Netflix’s Daredevil before the character received his own self-titled spinoff show.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter last year, Bernthal assured fans that the new hourlong special will stay authentic to the beloved anti-hero character, even with the jump from Netflix to Disney’s platform.
“It’s going to be dark,” Bernthal told the outlet at the time. “Frank has no interest in breaking out the darkness. It’s not going to be easy. I don’t know if that’s the Netflix tone then that’s what it’s going to be. It will not be Punisher-lite, I promise you that.”
The forthcoming project, which was filmed during a 12-day shoot in New York City last summer, will be released on Disney+ later this year. The Walking Dead actor said it would come out around the same time as Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which will hit theaters in July.
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Bernthal will also make his theatrical debut as Castle in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The MCU movie, starring Tom Holland and Zendaya, will feature a showdown between Spider-Man and The Punisher.
“Around that same time, there will also be this Punisher special that’s coming out, that I think will be as high-octane Punisher as you’ve ever seen,” the actor told ScreenRant in December.
Bernthal said, “I think what was really important to me and to Destin [Daniel Cretton] and to Tom [Holland] is that we believed that The Punisher could walk off of the Spider-Man set and could walk onto the special set, and I do believe that we achieved that.”