For years, on The Walking Dead; we’ve all wondered what it would be like for Jon Bernthal to reprise his role as antagonist Shane Walsh. The prominent character was killed off at the end of season two and appeared briefly in a hallucination in season three. Since then, his name has been frequently mentioned and recently, we had a bombshell dropped – Rick knows that Judith is Shane’s biological daughter, not his. Still, Shane was killed. Really killed. Became a zombie, then killed. So, there’s no way that Bernthal could return, right?
Apparently, we’re wrong. After photos surfaced of Bernthal hanging out with the cast of TWD and being seen near filming sites, it was confirmed that Shane was returning for an episode in season nine. Bernthal has gone off to become a big name, most notably in the Marvel universe as Frank Castle aka The Punisher, but his performance as Shane cemented him as not only one of the most iconic TWD characters, but proved to us how much of a powerhouse actor the man is.
“I knew going in. During the audition process, all the men they were looking at had to audition for both Rick and Shane, and I was very clear with [then showrunner] Frank [Darabont] that I wanted to audition for Shane. That’s what I wanted, and he said, ‘You know he’s not going to last…” and I said, ‘That’s the character. The guy had a built-in beginning, middle and end,’ and often times you don’t get that as a character. I sort of prefer that. I loved knowing that he was going to die. I loved knowing that he was going to lose his mind. I loved being able to star in it, from the absolute opposite end of the spectrum — being the best friend possible and loving this man so much and knowing that I have to go to the place where he was going to go. I thought it was such a great opportunity and I’m super grateful to Frank Darabont for giving it to me.” – Jon Bernthal explained during a sit down with IGN.
Norman Reedus, who plays another fan favorite Daryl Dixon; was asked about Bernthal’s return to season nine:
“You know I see Jon all of the time already,” Reedus told ComicBook.com with a laugh. “So, to me I was just like, ‘Hey a–hole, welcome back!'” However, for the rest of the crew behind the AMC show which doesn’t travel with Walker Stalker Con events around the country, seeing Bernthal again is more of a rarity.
“To the crew, it was really good for them, you know?” Reedus said. “I mean we have so much of our crew from the beginning that are still there, you know, which is kind of unheard of. And you know, sure people get promoted and they move on to other things just like life but we have a lot of the old core group there and they’re still fans of this show. And for them to see them it was kind of cool to sit in the back and then just watch everyone freak out, you know. Cause we are kind of a big family on there but it’s, that was cool. But I see that jerk all the time anyways, so…”
We’ll have to see how Bernthal’s return is integrated into the show, but one thing we do know is that it’s going to be good seeing Shane back on screen on The Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead returns October 7
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