Netflix is officially making another Marvel series, this time centered around the Daredevil character The Punisher.
The news was announced Friday morning via the following tweet and teaser trailer on the Daredevil Twitter account. A Punisher TV series had been previously rumored.
The Punisher is back. Locked and loaded.https://t.co/nGKCa2taEV
— Netflix US (@netflix) April 29, 2016
“We want to thank the fans who are clamoring for more of Jon’s stunning and powerful performance as Frank Castle from Marvel’s DAREDEVIL,” said Executive Producer/Head of Marvel TV, Jeph Loeb in a press release, “Now combined with Showrunner Steve Lightfoot’s compelling writing, we’re thrilled to bring Marvel’s The Punisher to Netflix.”
“Jon hooked our global audience with his performance as Frank Castle from the moment he stepped on screen in Marvel’s Daredevil, and we are looking forward to seeing more of him in this role under the vision of Steve Lightfoot,” said Cindy Holland, Netflix Vice President of Original Content.
“For me, the complexity and unpredictability of Frank Castle make him an incredibly compelling character and I couldn’t be more excited to dive into his world,” said Executive Producer and Showrunner, Steve Lightfoot. “After watching Jon’s performance in Marvel’s Daredevil I could not be more excited to be working with him to further develop and progress the story of this anti-hero in a show of his own.”
Netflix only says that The Punisher is “coming soon,” so we’ll have to wait a while longer until we know when this series will be available for binging.
The Punisher played by Walking Dead alum Jon Bernthal was first introduced in Daredevil season 2. Viewers may’ve been surprised to see that Frank Castle was just as interested in taking out the bad guys as Daredevil was. Presumably the Punisher series will be set after the events of Daredevil, so fans will be going into it knowing they should be rooting for him. But do we really want to root for him? I’d rather watch a series about a true bad guy. Marvel has enough heroes, though I’ll concede The Punisher is definitely different from the rest of them.
Daredevil hasn’t been renewed for season 3, but Netflix is expected to make that announcement eventually. Also in their Marvel pipeline are a second season of Jessica Jones, the new series Luke Cage (coming later this year), Iron Fist, and a Defenders series.