The two stars of Netflix‘s The Punisher series are reuniting on the Great White Way. Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach will make their Broadway debuts next year in the new play Dog Day Afternoon. The play is based on the real-life events that inspired the 1975 film of the same name. Dog Day Afternoon is set to premiere in spring 2026.
The play is set in 1972 New York City; the city is bankrupt, the country is in turmoil, and two men are about to rob a bank. Bernthal will play Sonny Amato, while Moss-Bachrach will play his accomplice, Sal DeSilva; the surnames of the characters have been changed from the film. The two previously starred in the first season of The Punisher on Netflix: Bernthal played the driven vigilante Frank Castle, a role he has since reprised on Daredevil: Born Again, and Moss-Bachrach played David “Micro” Lieberman, a former NSA analyst who aids Castle in his war against a deadly conspiracy. The duo also star together on The Bear: Moss-Bachrach stars as restaurant manager Richie, while Bernthal recurs as his late best friend, Mikey. There’s no word on whether Moss-Bachrach will rejoin Bernthal in his gritty corner of the Marvel universe, but he will be starring as Ben Grimm, alias the Thing, in this summer’s Fantastic Four: First Steps.
What is ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ About?
Based on a real-life bank robbery in 1972, 1975’s Dog Day Afternoon starred Al Pacino as Sonny Wortzik and John Cazale as his friend Sal Naturile. Seeking to pay for the gender-reassignment surgery of Sonny’s partner, Leon Shermer (Chris Sarandon), the two rob a bank in Brooklyn. However, the inexperienced criminals soon end up taking the bank’s staff hostage when the police surround the building. Communicating with NYPD Sergeant Eugene Moretti (Charles Durning), the duo attempt to negotiate their escape, even as the incident becomes a media frenzy. Directed by Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men) and written by Frank Pierson (Cool Hand Luke), the film was a critical and commercial success; it was nominated for five Academy Awards and won one, for Pierson‘s screenplay. The real “Sonny,” a former bank teller named John Wojtowicz, was the subject of The Dog, a 2013 documentary that told the real facts behind the incident.
Dog Day Afternoon is written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis (The Get Down), and will be directed by Rupert Goold. It is a production of Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.
Dog Day Afternoon, starring John Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, will premiere on Broadway in the spring of 2026.
via Collider