--- title: "Netflix Just Re-Upped ‘The Punisher’ For A Second Season" date: "2017-12-14" modified: "2017-12-14" authors: - name: "James Clark" job_title: "Editor-in-Chief" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/james-clark.md" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/netflix-just-re-upped-punisher-second-season/" categories: - "Culture" --- # Netflix Just Re-Upped ‘The Punisher’ For A Second Season ![]() It’s been just over a month since Jon Bernthal’s titular anti-hero unloaded on Netflix viewers with the Nov. 17 launch of *The Punisher,* and the streaming service has already reenlisted the Marine vet turned gun-toting vigilante for a second season, [according to]() Variety. The announcement that Netflix will re-up the show, just a month after its first season aired, comes amid some [pretty mixed]() reviews. [Many of the critiques]() centered around the decision to [highlight a lone-wolf gunman]() who commits... *extrajudicial killings*, if you’re nice about it — particularly after two of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history [occurred]() leading up to *The Punisher’s* debut. (A New York Comic-Con panel on the show was cancelled out of an abundance of caution in the aftermath of the Oct. 1 Las Vegas shooting.) *The Punisher* has always been a divisive character, even in his own narratives: Both the law and the criminal underworld are after him for killing bad guys. Frank Castle is a man who feels betrayed by the system and let down by its rules after the death of his family — in the TV-reboot, his kin are collateral damage from an off-the-books CIA plan to trim loose ends and keep a shady mission in Afghanistan under wraps. So he falls back on his military training and takes matters into his own bloody hands. (*The Punisher’s* first season focused heavily on its wide cast of military and veteran characters, protagonists and villains alike, with a few too many appeals to easy vet stereotypes.) Related: ‘The Punisher’ Is Here And It’s Filled With Guns, Violence, And Veteran Stereotypes » As Maxim [noted]() Dec. 12, a second season might give the series a chance to hammer out some kinks, while giving viewers time to get used to all the high-def rampage. Why anyone was surprised at the violence is a mystery, considering Castle’s intro in season 2 of *Daredevil* involved him hanging crooks from meathooks. That, and the character’s whole backstory centers around killing bad guys, nothauling them into the police station. It’s not clear yet if *The Punisher* will double down on the show’s formula — and a bloated 12-hour season that could probably be cut to six — or trim some of the odder subplots, like the one involving Castle playing house with the family of his cyber-sleuthing partner, Micro. One thing’s pretty clear, though: Violence, mayhem, and firearms will feature heavily. This is Frank Castle we’re talking about, not an acrobatic night-crawling lawyer one mistake away from disbarment. If you want to see villains get a kick in the ass and a pat on the head on their way to jail, go watch *The Defenders*. **WATCH NEXT:** ## Author James Clark is the editor-in-chief of Task & Purpose. He is a former Marine and a veteran of the War in Afghanistan. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [LinkedIn]()