Punisher star Jon Bernthal walked away from the original Daredevil: Born Again because he disagreed with his character’s direction: “I thought would not appeal to the fans”

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again episode 4.

The latest episode of Daredevil: Born Again brought Jon Bernthal’s Punisher into the MCU for the first time. However, it seems he almost wasn’t part of the show at all, as Bernthal has revealed he actually walked away from the original version.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the actor said when he was initially approached for the series, he wasn’t interested in the approach they were taking. “Ultimately, I didn’t see it. I didn’t see the version of Frank, and what they wanted from Frank [didn’t] really make sense to me and I thought would not appeal to the fans and wouldn’t be congruent,” Bernthal said. “It was not something I was really interested in doing. So we had to walk away.”

The series underwent a creative overhaul when the Hollywood strikes brought filming to a halt with producer Dario Scardapane coming on board as showrunner. Scardapane previously worked with Bernthal on The Punisher TV show and the actor credits him and others he worked with on the Netflix show for helping bring him back into the fold.

“They really brought me into the conversation,” he added of Scardapane and Marvel. “We really got specific about where Frank is psychologically, where Frank’s at physically.”

The latest episode of Daredevil: Born Again brings Frank Castle back for a brief, emotional scene with Matt Murdock. We don’t see too much of him, but the intense scene features some of the most heartbreaking dialogue of the show so far. Charlie Cox previously shared that Bernthal would often rewrite his lines on the series too, sometimes without telling him.

Daredevil: Born Again is airing weekly on Disney Plus. For more, check out our Daredevil: Born Again release schedule and our Daredevil: Born Again season 1 review.