The future for Netflix’s Marvel shows is uncertain. Nobody was particularly surprised when Iron Fist was cancelled, but few expected the same would happen to Luke Cage. And, while Daredevil‘s third season was widely considered the best yet, fans feel that they still have to campaign to get the show renewed for a fourth. Amidst all this is The Punisher, which might benefit from being slightly disconnected from the Defenders group of characters.
The first season of the Jon Bernthal-starring show somewhat divided audiences, but was generally judged to be an imaginative and smart take on the antihero. Season 2, meanwhile, has now wrapped filming and though we haven’t seen anything from it just yet, the star’s been teasing an impending trailer on social media. He tweeted “tick tock,” accompanied by a .gif of the Punisher in action two weeks ago, and now he’s followed that up with the below Instagram post:
While we don’t know when season 2 of The Punisher will debut, we can at least be fairly certain that news is imminent. It remains to be seen what the overarching story will be this time around, but if I was on the team, I’d make sure that the season can reasonably round out Frank’s tale as the future of Marvel’s Netflix output is definitely in doubt.
That’s because Disney will soon be in direct competition with Netflix via their own streaming service. Given that the Netflix shows are co-productions between the two companies, it’s doubtful that they can simply bring these programs to their own network (at least, not without a substantial payout to Netflix). Instead, they’re focusing on what’s sure to be an enormously hyped series of shows about characters from the big screen MCU, including Loki, Falcon, Winter Soldier and Scarlet Witch. In the meantime, I’d expect the Netflix Marvel shows to all gradually come to an end. And The Punisher season 2 might even feasibly be the last one.
