Jon Bernthal Finally Confirms The Punisher Was Pushed Back Because of Las Vegas Shooting

The Punisher star, Jon Bernthal, has finally confirmed the rumors: the series premiere was pushed back because of the Las Vegas shooting. The show’s protagonist is a trigger-happy vigilante who uses high powered guns to exact his own brand of justice. Unfortunately, that description is very close to the profile of mass-shooters, so a premiere so close to the Vegas tragedy seemed disrespectful to the victims.

“We put the premiere of this show off because of the tragedy that happened in Las Vegas. We did that out of respect. I think it was the right decision,” Bernthal said in an interview with Indiewire.

On October 1, a gunman opened fire at a country music concert at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on the Las Vegas strip. The attack left 48 dead and 546 people wounded. As Indie Wire notes, at the time The Punisher’s premiere date had not been announced. However, the cast had been scheduled to appear on a panel at New York City Comic-Con. In light of the Vegas incident, the panel was cancelled. Then Netflix announced that the premiere would happen on November 17 with a red-carpet event scheduled for November 6.

But another mass shooting has taken place before the premiere. This time it happened on Sunday November 5 at a church in Texas. Twenty-six people were killed.

Coming to collect. #ThePunisher cast at last night's premiere in New York City. pic.twitter.com/ouD6p8n0ty

— The Punisher (@ThePunisher) November 7, 2017

“We put the show off because of one of these tragedies and in that short period of time, now there is another one.” Bernthal said to Indie Wire the day after the mass shooting.

Bernthal added that The Punisher will discuss all sides of the debate over gun violence in America.

“I don’t think that it’s art’s job to answer those questions, but if this show will spark debate, will highlight an unbelievable problem, make people think and talk about it, awesome.”

The Punisher is a spin-off series from Marvel’s Daredevil on Netflix. Bernthal’s character is a former marine who uses his combat skills and weapons arsenal to hunt the men who killed his family. According to Variety, during the series, he will unearth a major conspiracy that goes well beyond the crime ring that committed the murder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIY6zFL95hE

Bernthal told Variety that amidst all the violence, this is a story about grief, pain and trying to live with the internal battles that are raging within you. Marvel’s head of television and executive producer added that Bernthal’s ability to embodying these internal struggles on Daredevil earned The Punisher a standalone series. He described Bernthal’s performance as “intense” and “extraordinary.”

Marvel’s The Punisher will premiere on Netflix on November 17.

Will you be binge-watching The Punisher? Or do you think it’s not the right show for America’s current political climate?

[Featured Image by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images]