Fresh off of the smashing success of its ultra-violent first season, development of The Punisher Season 2 is already well underway. We still don't have much concrete information to work with yet, but the details that have come forward seem to promise something unique. Despite earlier rumors suggesting an adaptation of The Slavers arc, it now looks like The Punisher Season 2 might actually be adapting Suicide Run instead.
A new report at That Hashtag Show suggests that The Punisher Season 2 may be making some changes to its story, and moving away from the narrative that we had initially assumed we would see. Early casting reports had suggested a storyline in the vein of Garth Ennis' The Slavers, but now new casting rumors state that the introduction of Giorgia Whigham as Amy Bendix means that we could see the Suicide Run storyline play out next season.
The Suicide Run arc follows Frank as he barely escapes a near-death experience in a New York skyscraper and eventually finds himself in a small town in Pennsylvania (changed to Ohio in the show) called Laastekis. During his recovery from injuries sustained during the mission, he befriends Amy Bendix until he is eventually found by her father (the sheriff of the small town). What follows is a First Blood-esque showdown between the authorities and Frank.
While Frank is in Laastekis during Suicide Run, a group of violent vigilantes surfaces to take his place. This actually makes quite a bit of sense, as other reports related to The Punisher Season 2 have suggested that Season 2 will introduce a series of new actors to portray an ensemble of violent and highly-trained vigilantes. One actor already cast is The Dark Knight Rises' Josh Stewart, whose John Pilgrim might actually be a stand-in for comic book vigilante Jimmy Pierce. Another possible character to enter the equation is an uncast female vigilante named Drea, who might be the TV counterpart to Lynn Michaels.
This doesn't necessarily mean that we won't see The Slavers enter the equation in some capacity. A full season of The Punisher takes a long time to play out, which means these storylines could easily be compartmentalized to represent a portion of one larger, overarching story. Additionally, all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Netflix shows have taken creative liberties with popular storylines and characters over the years, which means The Punisher Season 2 could offer up an amalgamation of these iconic tales.
Only time will tell exactly which story The Punisher Season 2 will give us, but we will keep you posted with more updates as they become available. For now, you can currently catch Season 1 of The Punisher on Netflix, take a look at our midseason premiere guide to see what shows are coming this spring, and listen to the most recent episode of The Cord Cutter Podcast to hear what else we have to say about all of your favorite streaming content.
