THE PUNISHER Series Casts Ben Barnes, Possibly in the Role of Bobby Saint
Like anyone invested in the Marvel shows on Netflix, I am super excited for the upcoming Punisher series. Initially watching Daredevil Season 2, I found Frank Castle’s exit from the season rather lackluster. I was looking forward to Daredevil/Punisher fighting the bad guys and blowing everyone’s minds with their fighting prowess. Alas, I had to remind myself that it is a Daredevil series, not a Punisher show. But can you blame me? Jon Bernthal played the role of Frank Castle to perfection.
With the recent announcement of an upcoming Punisher series, hopefully all of my expectations will be fulfilled. The series is reportedly slated to hit Netflix in November of 2017 and casting has begun. It appears that the villain of the show has been cast.
TVLine got the exclusive on the casting. Here is what they had to say:
Netflix’s latest Marvel spinoff, The Punisher, has cast English actor Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) in a series-regular role opposite Jon Bernthal’s titular vigilante, TVLine has learned exclusively. Character info is sketchy, but one rumor making the rounds has Barnes — who will next be seen in HBO’s big-budget Westworld — portraying antagonist Bobby Saint, the corrupt crime prodigy played in the 2004 film by James Carpinello.
If the rumors are true, then it looks like we will be watching Frank Castle make Swiss cheese out of the mafia. I am really OK with the casting of Barnes. He is definitely an underrated actor. Marvel has a history of finding the diamonds in the rough.
What do you think about a reimagining of Bobby Saint? Is he a baddy worthy of The Punisher?
Update:
We mistakenly used a photo of Rodrigo Santoro and not Ben Barnes. We've updated the images and included a side-by-side comparison, because, wow they look really similar. Our apologies to Mr. Santoro and Mr. Barnes.
