Marvel’s ‘Daredevil’ officially spinning off The Punisher into solo series

When it comes to “The Punisher,” the longstanding rumors are indeed true: Netflix is going to be bringing Jon Bernthal’s version of the character to the small screen via his own solo series.

The streaming service confirmed this news today in a statement, and made it clear that Steve Lightfoot (“Hannibal”) is being brought on board to help shepherd this character into new territory. We did expect to hear an announcement about this character and a solo show at some point, but we certainly did not expect it so soon, given the sole fact that “Daredevil” season 2 is is only a little over a month old. We don’t get any indication yet that Bernthal’s character of Frank Castle will be that involved in “The Defenders,” the superhero team-up show that is going to film later this year.

In a statement, Lightfoot had the following to say about workong on this particular show:

“For me, the complexity and unpredictability of Frank Castle make him an incredibly compelling character and I couldn’t be more excited to dive into his world. After watching Jon’s performance in ‘Marvel’s Daredevil’ I could not be more excited to be working with him to further develop and progress the story of this anti-hero in a show of his own.”

Meanwhile, Marvel’s own TV head Jeph Loeb stated the following:

“We want to thank the fans who are clamoring for more of Jon’s stunning and powerful performance as Frank Castle from ‘Marvel’s Daredevil.’ Now combined with Showrunner Steve Lightfoot’s compelling writing, we’re thrilled to bring Marvel’s The Punisher to Netflix.”

We will have some other news on this particular show as it comes out, but for now stay tuned…