hits.

He’s friend not foe!

Netflix is now confirming what we reported last month: ‘Westworld’ actor Ben Barnes is joining Marvel’s ‘The Punisher’ as a series regular, although he will not be playing an antagonist to Jon Bernthal’s titular vigilante (aka Frank Castle), as we speculated. Rather, the English actor has been cast as Billy Russo, Frank’s best friend from his days in the Special Forces. Billy runs a successful private military corporation called Anvil.

Viewers got their first look at Bernthal’s gun-toting antihero in Season 2 of ‘Daredevil’, which dropped last March. Netflix formally pulled the trigger on a Punisher-centric series one month later (although the project was unofficially greenlit back in January). ‘Hannibal’ scribe Steve Lightfoot will serve as showrunner. ‘The Punisher’ is slated to premiere in 2017.

Source

cheryl said:

Aww, dammit. :( This is a real bummer to me; I was looking forward to Ben going Full Villain.

I don’t know if I can buy him as “ex special forces.”

October 6th, 2016

Stephanie said:

I believe that Billy Russo becomes ‘Jigsaw’, who is indeed a supervillain. You can read more about the character here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigsaw_%28Marvel_Comics%29

Hopefully we’ll get more information soon. :)

October 6th, 2016

cheryl said:

Oh no! Then they’ll cut up his face! We can’t win. :)

I should have known the above, but ‘Punisher’ was one of the only comics my husband did NOT read during the 90’s. LOL.

October 6th, 2016

LaRose said:

How exciting. I was just reading that Russo becomes Jigsaw on another site.

From the link Stephanie posted, the character sounds like a real SOB!! This is a good role for Ben. It will give him a change to really show his great acting skills. He is such a sweetheart in real life, I bet it will be fun for him to play someone so evil..

October 6th, 2016

CindyDakin said:

I knew he would play Jigsaw!!
Fantastic news!!! And I am so proud of him. His projects are getting better and better!

October 6th, 2016

Elizabeth Anne said:

This is very exciting news. I can’t wait to see him in the Punisher! Whether he’s playing the villain or a hero it will be exciting to see him displaying more of his awesome talent. I think I did read that Billy Russo becomes a villain as Jigsaw. Ben is so talented I think he could play either. I’m so proud of him for all the success he’s been having and with all these amazing new roles he’s been getting!

October 6th, 2016

Julie said:

I can’t help wondering if he will be glad to play something less “pretty” than his usual roles. I’ll bet he’s excited to play something where he can chew up the scenes a bit.

October 6th, 2016

F2write said:

Ha, ha!

@Tanya – didn’t I tell you, Jigsaw? And Comic Con? Man, oh, man! Save the face!

October 6th, 2016

dianna said:

I really hope he will play both parts – Billy and Jigsaw. It will be difficult to make that beautiful face into something horrible though .. challenge for the make up people lol

October 6th, 2016

Carol said:

Great news for Ben’s fans, really! Jigsaw is the best choice. But I wonder what his face will look like in this movie. All I know is that Jigsaw’s face doesn’t look normal lol
Anyway I’m so happy for him! :)

October 6th, 2016

Carol said:

And I guess he IS the living proof of balance between good and evil which is also perfect for Ben’s acting career lol :)

October 6th, 2016

Louise said:

I also thought that he could be Jigsaw when I read somewhere that Jigsaw was a pretty man , the Beaut, before glass……

October 6th, 2016

Marie said:

So glad we got a confirmation of his role in The Punisher! :D I just hope he also gets to play the villain Jigsaw and not just The Punisher’s friend… I was sooo looking forward to seeing him in darker roles because I really enjoyed his performance in By The Gun and I’m sure Jigsaw would be an amazing challenge for him… even if his face looks disgusting but it would be so interesting to see Ben play this darker part too! Please, let him play Jigsaw too!
I really wish him good luck on this new project. He wanted to be in a Marvel franchise, it’s a done thing now. ;)
Stephanie, hopefully you’ll find us some great on set pictures really soon. ;)

October 6th, 2016

Rayna said:

Ben as Billy @ Jigzaw, good or bad guy…!!! I know marvel comic characters but only saw like Iron Man and frens but never lnow beyond other character like punisher n jigzaw..,,
But whatever it is …as long as Ben Barnes, I’m good… Hahaha

October 6th, 2016

SashaPanda said:

Im so proud of him and all the roles he is getting! I dont care if he does not have the (main) part but at least we get to see his beautiful face! LOLOL! Im very excited to see this and I hope he continues to get more jobs like these! MWAH! xxx

October 7th, 2016