The Punisher, one of Netflix’s few remaining Marvel shows, is almost back with its second season. A new teaser catches us up on the fate of some familiar faces and lets us know that The Punisher’s season two will be released on Jan. 18.
The teaser, much like the latter half of the show’s first season, pits Frank Castle against his former squad mate, Billy Russo. After their brutal fight at the end of last season, Russo seems to have suffered severe scarring, causing him to don a mask and giving us a brief glimpse of his identity as the future villain, Jigsaw.
Further hints at Russo’s masked-villain turn come from the Marvel press release that accompanied the trailer, which says that as Russo begins to “heal from the traumatic brain injury Frank inflicted on him, it’s only a matter of time before Billy starts to put the pieces of the puzzle back together.” With puzzle analogies surrounding the character that eventually becomes Jigsaw, Marvel isn’t exactly taking the subtle path.
The release of The Punisher’s latest season comes at a strange time for Netflix and Marvel’s relationship. With Disney’s own streaming platform and first-party Marvel content on the way, Marvel and Netflix have spent the last several months canceling their co-produced shows including Daredevil, Iron Fist and Luke Cage. At this point, only The Punisher and Jessica Jones, which already had seasons on the way, remain. With this in mind, it’s possible that this season of The Punisher could be the show’s last, at least on Netflix, but we won’t know anything for sure until the two companies make an announcement on the show’s future.
