Although an exact date has not yet been revealed, Marvel and Netflix have confirmed that the series based on the character The Punisher, which will see Jon Bernthal reprising the Frank Castle / Punisher role he originated in the second season of the Daredevil show, will make its streaming debut in 2017.
The Punisher is currently filming, and as Bernthal stalks around the set we're starting find out who will be appearing on the show's first season with him.
It's been almost a month since we learned that Ben Barnes would be in the cast, and now we know exactly who he will play: "Billy Russo, Frank Castle's best friend from his days in the Special Forces who runs a successful private military corporation called Anvil." If the idea of the Punisher dealing with someone named Billy Russo seems familiar, that's because Billy Russo is the name of the terribly disfigured villain known as Jigsaw. However, in the comics Russo was a gangster who had no personal connection to the Punisher, so obviously Jigsaw is getting a very different origin on this show.
Bernthal and Barnes have been joined by Ebon Moss-Bachrach as "Micro, a former NSA analyst whose secrets may be of great value to Frank Castle and everyone around them", and Amber Rose Revah as "Dinah Madani; a highly-trained sophisticated Homeland Security agent who is vexed by the Punisher."
Pictures from the set (like the one above) have also confirmed that Deborah Ann Woll will be appearing in The Punisher as her Daredevil character Karen Page.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Amber Rose Revah