Spoilers ahead forThe Walking Dead.
It's almost hard to believe, but The Walking Dead is in the midst of its whopping eighth season on television. The series first debuted on AMC back in 2010, and slowly began accruing a loyal fanbase. Now the property is a bonafide behemoth, with a successful spinoff, and a highly anticipated crossover event on the way. At this point both the fans and actors are used to horrifying character deaths, but it was a game changer back in the show's second season. Season 2 saw quite a few main characters bite the bullet, including Jon Bernthal's Shane. And now the Punisher actor has revealed what he thought about getting killed by Carl back in the day.
Doing the show and being killed off the show are two of the best things that have happened in my career.
It looks like Jon Bernthal really appreciates his short tenure on The Walking Dead. While he didn't last on the show for very long, he was one of the three biggest characters alongside Rick and Lori. Shane's death was a major turning point for the series as a whole, and he's a character that still lives on through baby Judith.
Jon Bernthal's comments to Express.Co seem to indicate just how much he appreciated his short tenure on The Walking Dead. TWD is what most actors know Benthal best from, which has no doubt helped him book other major jobs since being killed off.
This is particularly obvious through his most recent TV role: Netflix's The Punisher. The Punisher is a vigilante who uses firearms to take out his enemies personally. Audiences can once again watch Jon Bernthal gear up with a rifle and shoot down bad guys. Bernthal likely got this role at least partly due to his time on The Walking Dead, and it's a good thing that he did; his performance as so acclaimed that he was granted his own spinoff The Punisher. It's currently unclear when he'll pop back up in Netflix's Marvel universe, but the spinoff is widely considered one of the streaming service's best Marvel shows.
Jon Bernthal's feelings about being killed off of The Walking Dead are likely also influenced by the graphic novels of the same name. The first few seasons of The Walking Dead very closely followed Robert Kirkman's comics. This includes the way Shane's characterization, as well as his death at the hands of Carl's gun at the end of Season 2. Bernthal no doubt read the comics, and therefore saw his death coming.
Unfortunately, not everyone from The Walking Dead has such a good attitude about being killed off. Emily Kinney was very open about the distress it put her through when Beth was killed off a few years ago. And Chandler Riggs' father recently admonished production for killing of Carl after all these years.
The Walking Dead will return to AMC on February 25th. In the meantime, check out our midseason premiere list to plan your next binge watch, and our cancellation list to see if your favorite show got the chop last year.
