We're still coming down from the endlessly brutal first season of The Punisher that debuted last year, but now it looks like new details related to Season 2 are already starting to surface. Season 1 sent Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle down a deep and dark spiral of revenge, and Season 2 is shaping up to take things in an even more ominous direction. Specifically, new possible casting details for The Punisher Season 2 may have just leaked, and they tease a potential adaptation of Garth Ennis' The Slavers story arc.
Two specific character descriptions have just leaked online courtesy of That Hashtag Show. Both female characters, one is named Annie Beir, while the other is called Kim. Annie is described as a teenage girl who is used to living on the streets; she's "scrappy" and "aware of her environment." On the other hand, Kim Davis is described as a woman in her mid-30s who works as a therapist.
When looking at how these characters may factor into Season 2 of The Punisher, one story arc that very clearly comes to mind is Garth Ennis' The Slavers, which ran from 2005 to 2006 in the Punisher MAX line of comics. The story specifically focuses on Frank going after a human trafficking operation (something that was addressed in Daredevil as well), and it deals heavily with the protection of escaped sex slaves. Annie could be a stand-in for The Slavers' Viorica, while Kim's character description seems to share numerous similarities to the character Jen Cooke from the same storyline.
None of this necessarily means that we will see an adaptation of The Slavers on The Punisher, but the evidence definitely supports that possibility. Garth Ennis' writing has consistently stood out as a clear inspiration for many of the storylines that have featured Frank Castle in the Netflix corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and showrunner Steven Lightfoot has already expressed an interest in adapting more Ennis characters like Barracuda and Kathryn O'Brien. For The Punisher to potentially dive back into that well for Season 2 makes quite a bit of sense.
In addition to the possibility of The Slavers receiving an adaptation, rumors have also suggested that a police officer named Marvin Skelling may enter the picture during Season 2 of The Punisher. Although we cannot confirm this yet, some have theorized that this could turn out to be Detective Soap -- a longtime ally of Frank Castle in the NYPD. Soap has appeared in numerous Punisher storylines over the years, and he even made his live-action debut in 2008's Punisher: War Zone. If Soap does show up, then it stands to reason that The Punisher's second season may blend The Slavers with other storylines as well, creating an adaptation that's not entirely a 1:1 take on the source material.
CinemaBlend will keep you posted with more updates related to The Punisher Season 2 as new information becomes available to us. Until then, you can check out our midseason premiere guide to get all of this spring's biggest release dates, and you can listen to the most recent episode of The Cord Cutter Podcast to hear our thoughts on the world of streaming content.
