Het is een wonder dat Netflix The Punisher nog niet gecanceld heeft, zo'n beetje alle andere Marvel series is ondertussen de stekker uit getrokken. Het tweede seizoen komt er aan en daarom had de website Collider dit interview met Jon Bernthal over zijn rol, vuurwapen wetgeving en nog veel meer. Maar daar over kan je alvast hier onder een klein stukje lezen.

Question: Gun violence has such a large presence these days, and I'm wondering what message you think The Punisher as a character and the show itself has about the topic?

JON BERNTHAL: I can't speak for the show because I don't write it. I think that you'd have to talk to Steve and to Marvel about that. For me, it's a few things. Number one, art, when it's done right, holds a mirror to society and makes you question it. And question yourself. You shouldn't attempt to spoon feed answers or to preach. [Art should] make you look at yourself and hopefully present different sides to an argument and help make society or help make the viewer ask questions about the world in which they live in. I tend to try and avoid art that is preachy and tells you how to think. As far as I'm concerned, I think for so long now we've really gone through this thing in this country where a certain element has a stronghold and a monopoly on what it means to be strong or tough or masculine or patriotic, for that matter. For me, the great joy that I have in playing this role and other roles is where I got to pick soldiers and combat vets, and the guys that share their stories with me. To me, the mark of somebody who is strong, patriotic, tough is someone who has an open mind. Someone who is open to listening to all sides and not be steadfast and not be completely clinging to their own sense of, "This is what is right and this is what is wrong." For me, what's American to be open to all sides. Me, I'm just repulsed by the...you know how polarized it is. How it seems like both folks on both sides of that issue seem to know so little about the other side. I'm pretty much, for me personally because It's the only thing I can speak to, I'm sickened by fundamentalism of any sort. You got to keep an open mind.