After the success of the first season of Netflix’s ‘The Punisher’ – success of which fans are grateful, after three attempts to bring the character to life on the big screen which all largely failed – Marvel is readily moving forward with a second season of the show. Now, some interesting details on the casting-call sheets may reveal what Punisher comic-book story arc from the 1990s the show is looking to replicate.
First up, check out these character descriptions that were released in a recent casting call:
[Sheriff Bonnen] an authoritative male in his early 40s.
[Deputy Willis] a female, 33-37, who is a good cop but looks out for #1 above all else.
[Deputy Creamer] a 25-28 year old male who is described as optimistic and professional.
[Bob] a male in his early 50s who works at the desk at the sheriff office.
While seeming fairly innocuous at first glance, a deeper dive into these characters and the ones previously announced for the second season may tell a different tale. The spec sheets for ‘The Punisher’ Season 2 sets some of the action in a small town in Ohio, where the above characters are placed.
Two previous cast confirmations clear things up even further: Georgia Wigham has been cast as Amy Bendix, and Josh Stewart will play a character named John Pilgrim. While slight name changes are nothing new for book-to-screen characters – whether to avoid conflicts with the characters as they’ve appeared elsewhere or simply to throw story sleuths off the trail – the character Amy Bendix points us in a specific direction, as she only appeared in two issues of the Punisher comics: both part of the late-’90s multi-book crossover “Suicide Run.”
Spread across all three concurrent-running Punisher books at the time, “Suicide Run” was a 10-issue mega-event that saw Frank Castle apparently suicide-bombing an NYC skyscraper in an attempt to take out several crime bosses. While the Punisher’s absence encourages a slew of copycat vigilantes to arise, Frank does miraculously reappear in a small town in Pennsylvania, where he recovers with the help of Amy Bendix and her father, Sherriff Bendix.
Yes, the action seems to have moved to rural Ohio, and it’s likely that Sheriff Bonnen as noted in the casting call above is indeed Sheriff Bendix. Further likely is that John Pilgrim is actually intended to be Jimmy Pierce, one of the vigilantes that pops up in Frank’s absence. Pierce can’t really be used, however, as he was introduced briefly in the first season of Netflix’s ‘Iron Fist’ series.
So, is this the storyline that the new season of the Punisher will be following? I certainly hope so, because as a long-time reader of The Punisher, the “Suicide Run” arc is easily one of my all-time favorites. Stay tuned to find out, as the second season of ‘The Punisher’ is expected to land on Netflix sometime next year.
