Jon Bernthal returns as Frank Castle in The Punisher: One Last Kill, a Marvel Television Special Presentation that premieres May 12 at 6 p.m. PT exclusively on Disney+.
The special — described by its makers as intended for mature audiences — follows Castle after he has avenged the murders of his wife and children and is searching for meaning beyond revenge, only to have Ma Gnucci, played by Judith Light, come to him for payback.
Reinaldo Marcus Green directed and co-wrote the project with Bernthal; both men also serve as executive producers. Green said the project was already “kind of loosely pre-approved in that sense,” and that Disney was on board. He added, “And so, I knew that at least as far as I was concerned, Disney was on board, which I thought was bold, and daring, and fun. And I think that's what makes it really cool, that it is a Disney+ special, because it's not what you expect to see on that platform, and to see Frank Castle kind of come back in this way I think was exciting, because it's a whole new audience for us.”
Details from the special underline how far the filmmakers pushed that promise: Castle uses an ink pen and a baseball bat as weapons, and Bernthal’s version of the character is meant to be raw and uncompromising. Green said of Bernthal’s approach, “I think Jon [Bernthal] wasn't going to have it any other way. I think he spoke about it publicly, that it was go hard or go home, so to speak. And you know, he wasn't going to do a special that was going to kind of hold punches.”
The release also marks Bernthal’s first time leading a Marvel project since the Netflix series was canceled in 2019. He devised the idea for this special while filming Season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again and raised it with Green in Ojai about a year and a half before shooting began; Green said Bernthal asked him to be open to the idea during that conversation.
Green said he drew on a lifelong interest in the comics and a close creative team — including Nick Koumalatsos, Cody Alford, and Colton Hill — to design Frank Castle’s psychological state for the piece. He described working closely with those veterans: they were “part of building and designing Frank Castle's psychological state.”
The special’s position on Disney+ and its mature rating create an immediate tension: a brutal, adult Punisher story landing on a platform better known for family programming. Green acknowledged that tension while also pointing to the studio-level gatekeepers: “To be honest, I can't speak to that. I don't know what the plans are for the future of the Punisher. The only thing that we hope that we were able to accomplish is the demand for more if we were able to accomplish that. Hopefully Jon [Bernthal] and Marvel will come together to make something worthy of what the audience would want to see out of that character. Moving forward. I think, speaking for myself, I know Jon, and I would love to make a movie, something that could go worldwide and be on screens everywhere. But obviously, that’ll be Marvel’s decision.”
That last sentence is the clearest fact viewers need: Marvel Studios controls the Punisher’s future beyond this special. Bernthal himself already has another MCU engagement lined up — he is set to appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day this summer — but whether Castle returns in more Marvel projects, or in a theatrical movie Green says he would love to make, rests with Marvel.
The Punisher: One Last Kill is designed to be unmistakable in tone and purpose: a mature, final-seeming chapter meant to test demand and hand the ball to Marvel Studios. If the special succeeds at provoking that demand, Green and Bernthal have made their case; the studio will have the choice to act on it.
