Steve Lightfoot, showrunner for Marvel’s The Punisher, has spoken about making sure Frank is relatable to audiences.
Punisher is a grisly individual, he’s certainly not a hero, and even anti-hero is a stretch; the truth is that he’s a mass murderer, hell-bent on revenge. His military background and blood lust isn’t exactly something most everyday folk can relate to.
Lightfoot is aware of this of course, and in SFX (via comicbook.com) he described the show’s plan to make Punisher relatable despite his extremely violent behaviour.
“In Daredevil, he was a guy with a very simple agenda, which was revenge,” said Lightfoot. “And that was used to highlight Matt Murdock’s dilemmas. In this show we’ve had to give him dilemmas of his own. With any show, even if it’s about superheroes or whatever, you have to find things that normal people will identify with, that are everyman qualities. I’ve never been a Special Forces guy who kills 50 people, but I do know what it’s like to grieve.”
“At heart, you’ve got a very tough guy who isn’t necessarily great at showing is feelings, having at some point to deal with the loss of his family,” Lightfoot said. “And that’s something everyone can identify with. We can empathize with that, if not the actions it leads to.”
Whether or not Lightfoot and Netflix will be successful will remain to be seen. Jon Bernthal certainly delivered a touching performance as Frank during his stint on Daredevil; we will have to wait and see if it can translate to his own solo series.
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After exacting revenge on those responsible for the death of his wife and children, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) uncovers a conspiracy that runs far deeper than New York’s criminal underworld. Now known throughout the city as The Punisher, he must discover the truth about injustices that affect more than his family alone.
The Punisher features a cast that includes Jon Bernthal (Frank Castle), Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), Ben Barnes (Billy Russo), Jason R Moore (Curtis Hoyle), Michael Nathanson (Sam Stein), Daniel Webber (Lewis Walcott), Amber Rose Revah (Dinah Madani), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Micro), Jaime Ray Newman (Sarah Lieberman), Paul Schulze (Bill Rawlins), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Farah Madani), Rob Morgan (Turk Barrett) and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in an as-yet-unrevealed role.
Originally published September 19, 2017. Updated April 17, 2018.
