Jon Bernthal played the cunning antagonist Shane Walsh in the zombie series “The Walking Dead.” However, when the actor had to leave the project due to his character’s death in the series, he cried.
Jon Bernthal portrayed the character Shane Walsh in the first two seasons of The Walking Dead. At first, he is an ally of Rick, but he then develops into a cold antagonist who turns against the group’s leader. In the end, this becomes his downfall, and Shane is murdered by Rick.
As the actor stated on October 19, 2022, to Team Coco, leaving the series was quite difficult for him. Although he appeared as an antagonist in The Walking Dead, he had grown fond of the other cast members.
Here you can see a trailer for the 11th and final season of The Walking Dead:
“I clearly understood that I am no longer part of it”
The host Conan O’Brien addressed the actor about his character’s death in The Walking Dead and talked about the potential that arises when one is not bound to the same series for years.
Jon Bernthal agreed but also shared that he was very sad about leaving the well-known zombie series. Hardly had he managed to land a role in a series that was slowly gaining momentum when he was again dismissed from the project. This is how he felt about Shane’s ending.
However, the actor returned to the set after his character’s death to pick up his truck and say goodbye to his cast members. Meanwhile, the others were filming the first episode in which Shane no longer appeared.
Here you can watch the YouTube video in which Jon Bernthal talks about his departure from The Walking Dead:
“I wanted to go and say goodbye to everyone. Instead of saying goodbye, I just sat on this rock in the woods and watched this beautiful symphony [of the scene].”
The actor then gushed about all the different people and elements of the scene that he saw that day. At the same time, Jon Bernthal became aware that he was now definitely out of the project:
And these people, they were my family. And I saw them all working together. I clearly understood that I am no longer part of it. They are now doing their thing.
And I sat there and cried and felt sorry for myself, and I knew it was over.
Jon Bernthal via YouTube
When the actor now looks back at The Walking Dead, he feels nothing but gratitude for the opportunity to have played such a character. His cast members have also become not just colleagues but “lifetime friends” who taught him a lot.
In his role as Punisher, Jon Bernthal returns to the Marvel universe. You can read more about this here with our colleagues at Filmstarts.
Career-wise, the series and his exit from it were also “the best” thing that could have happened to Jon Bernthal.
After The Walking Dead, he received a major role in the Marvel universe in 2016 as Frank Castle aka The Punisher. In 2017, a series, Marvel’s The Punisher, even launched with his character at the center.
While The Walking Dead was the best thing that could have happened to Jon Bernthal, another Hollywood actor made a poor project choice:
Will Smith talks about one of the worst decisions of his career: “Why didn’t you do Matrix?”
