The Punisher finally debuted on Netflix earlier this month, rewarding viewers who have been waiting ever since the end of Daredevil Season 2 to see more of Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle. He's not the only character who started out on Daredevil to play a major role in the series, however, as Deborah Ann Woll reprised her role as Karen Page from Seasons 1 and 2 of Daredevil as well as The Defenders. Sparks were flying between Frank and Karen despite some decidedly non-romantic circumstances, leading many fans to wonder if the two could hook up at some point. CinemaBlend TV Editor Nick Venable spoke to Deborah Ann Woll about a potential romance between Frank and Karen, and she had this to say:
There are conversations. I have to think about how much I can sort of reveal. Also just in terms of whether this is Jon's story to tell or my story to tell, you just want to kind of be respectful of everybody's contributions. Jon and I have certainly feel that there is room for a romantic story in there. And there were certainly scenes where we took it farther in some takes than we did in other takes. We'll have to sort of wait and see what the editors chose, and how far they decided to push it. But we as actors allowed for that possibility. It'll kinda be up to Marvel and the powers that be to see how far they wanted to take it.
Apparently, Deborah Ann Woll and Jon Bernthal tailored their performances to leave the door open for a possible romance in the future. The actors didn't have any say in which takes of their scenes would be used in the finished product, but they made sure there were options in which Karen and Frank were fanning the flames a little bit. Obviously there wasn't the chance for much romance in The Punisher; still, it seems that the show -- or perhaps one of the other Marvel Netflix shows -- could explore a romance between these characters.
Of course, Frank still has a lot of baggage when it comes to his wife. The Punisher revealed that their marriage was not quite as perfect as fans may have expected after the events of Daredevil Season 2, which raised the question of whether a will they/won't they dynamic between Karen and Frank would work. Deborah Ann Woll weighed in on this question:
You have to remember that no marriage is a fairy tale marriage. They're trying to sort of show you that there can be deep, respected love, but also a lot of figuring things out. And I think for sure that Karen doesn't want to step on their toes, but at this point, he and she are the only people who really -- they're two profoundly lonely people -- and the only person who really knows them to their core is the other one. And there's a deep affection there, but it's complicated. ?
While Karen is clearly aware of the strings still attached between Frank and his wife, she and Frank have forged a bond out of their own loneliness and relative isolation. They know each other quite well after everything they've gone through, but that may not be enough for a romance to work. There's definitely a lot of complication in their dynamic, which is a big part of what makes it so engaging to watch. We'll have to wait and see if that dynamic turns overtly romantic in future Marvel ventures on Netflix.
If you haven't watched yet, you can catch the full first season of The Punisher with all its glorious fight sequences streaming on Netflix now. You can catch more of Karen and Frank scattered throughout the other Marvel shows, and they're worth tuning into anyway if you're a fan of superhero action. Check out our midseason TV premiere schedule to discover when your favorite shows will be back on the airwaves in 2018, and don't forget to take a peek at our 2017 rundown of TV cancellations.
