Late last year, the axe fell on both Iron Fist and Luke Cage, and though the third season of Daredevil arrived to a strong response, we learned in late November that even Matt Murdock couldn’t escape the same fate as his fellow Defenders. And now, as the second season of The Punisher approaches, fans are once again bracing themselves for some more bad news.
But first, we can all look forward to at least one more intense outing of the show, with Netflix premiering a brand new trailer today that reveals the premiere date of January 18th along with our first glimpse at Billy Russo’s new look, after Frank busted him up pretty good back in season 1.
Of course, if you’ve read the comics you’ll know that Billy’s usually referred to as Jigsaw, with his once handsome face torn to shreds thanks to Castle. And though it remains to be seen if he’ll follow the exact same path in season 2 that he did on the page, you can certainly see that he’s got some ugly scars on him now after what happened the last time he went up against The Punisher. And you can bet that he’ll be out for revenge.
Thankfully, then, Jon Bernthal’s hardened mercenary hasn’t lost his edge since enacting vengeance on the Homeland agents responsible for the deaths of his wife and children. That leaves the antihero in a fascinating spot, mentally speaking. Indeed, Castle is going to be more his vengeful self than ever this time round, with showrunner Steve Lightfoot recently teasing that season 2 is “about Frank really adopting the mantle of The Punisher,” highlighting this arc as the central theme of the new episodes.
Getting back to that cancellation though, and while we don’t imagine Netflix will announce anything in advance of the new season’s release, it does look like this will be it for The Punisher. And if that’s the case, then hopefully Frank can at least go out with a bang when the second season drops on January 18th.
