Jon Bernthal Spent Months Riding With Police On High Speed Chases To Prepare For First Major TV Role Since The Punisher

After returning to screens for his first major TV role since The Punisher, Jon Bernthal has blown viewers away with his turn as corrupt cop Sergeant Wayne Jenkins – a gig that saw him spending months riding with police on high speed car chases as preparation. Watch the trailer here:

In We Own This City, a miniseries about the ‘rise and fall' of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force, Bernthal stars as one of eight officers who were convicted on various corruption charges in 2018 and 2019. 

A synopsis for the show, which is based on a non-fiction book of the same name by reporter Justin Fenton, says: “Developed by George Pelecanos and David Simon, and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, We Own This City chronicles the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force and the corruption and moral collapse that befell an American city in which the policies of drug prohibition and mass arrest were championed at the expense of actual police work.”  

Bernthal clearly approached the role with care, having rocked up in Baltimore three months before shooting for the project began to start preparing. 

HBO

Here, he went on ridealongs with Baltimore Police Department almost every single night – and often with people who knew or had worked with Jenkins – hanging out with cops in every district in the city, from patrol to plain clothes. 

And if that wasn’t enough of a commitment, he also went on drug and gun raids with the SWAT team, and continued the research even when filming had begun. 

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Bernthal recalled: “We encountered folks with guns every ride-along I went out on. There was very rarely a night that we didn't get a gun off the street,” he says.

“There was very rarely a time that we went out that we didn't get into some sort of high speed chase or pursuit. That's real, and I'm so grateful to these folks. I'm staggered by their courage.” 

HBO

Bernthal was initially told it would be too dangerous to go out with Anthony Maggio, the police sergeant who was one of Jenkins' close friends, but the police commissioner eventually agreed to sign it off and the actor was allowed to ride out regularly with him.

"He's sort of the best side of Wayne, he polices in the same way," Bernthal continued.

"He's got unbelievable love and respect for the community, and he gets it from the community as well. He's policing for the absolute right reasons. But he is an aggressive, no nonsense, police officer that's very much a legend in that city."

The star even managed to convince Maggio to appear in a scene in the show, and the two remain friends to this day.

Watch We Own This City on HBO Max in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.