‘Daredevil’ broke new ground for the Marvel cinematic universe, deviating from the light-hearted family fare of the movies and taking on a gritty, violent tone aimed squarely at adult fans. The results were a success as ‘Daredevil’ was almost immediately greenlit for a second season which arrives this spring, roughly one year after Season One became available to stream on Netflix. And this season promises more, more, more! More action, more romance and more complexity, the first and the latter courtesy of deadly vigilante The Punisher, portrayed by Jon Bernthal (pictured above). The second, on the other hand (Hand, get it?) is the result of another lethal Marvel assassin joining the fun, Elektra, played by Elodie Yung.
New showrunners Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez promise to keep the elements that hooked viewers the first season but to crank things up. As Petrie explained:
“The advantage of any sequel is you can dive right in. We hit the ground running and then we ran as fast as we f—ing could.”
Indeed, compared to the slow burn of Season One, the second installment kicks off with a huge splashy action sequence and The Punisher makes his presence known much sooner than last season’s Big Bad, The Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) who didn’t appear until the third episode.
But the big difference here is that The Punisher isn’t an out-and-out villain. Just like in the comics, Frank Castle considers himself a hero and, like Daredevil, has dedicated himself to wiping out the criminal element in Hell’s Kitchen. But whereas Matt Murdock uses non-lethal means, The Punisher uses a gun and solves his problems permanently!
As Ramirez states:
“He has a different moral code. Matt is a devout Catholic — and you rarely see a character who’s a devotee anything on TV. Frank has Hammurabi’s Code. It’s like letting a great white shark into the water.”
It is Petrie and Ramirez’s intention that the audience not know how to feel about the character. As Petrie says:
“Viewers watching the show will be rooting for this guy with a gun but we’re also going to force people — the way we force Matt — to second-guess themselves. Taking lethal justice into your own hands in America in 2015 is tricky s–t. We have not shied away from the rich complicated reality of Now. If you’ve got a gun and you’re not the police you’re going to incite strong feelings. We’re stirring the pot and we’re aware of the headlines where we live and we’re trying to get people to think.”
Indeed, in a country currently embroiled in debates regarding the Second Amendment/gun control, police responsibility and foreign and domestic terrorism, The Punisher is a character that certainly presses some hot buttons. And just like in real life, some viewers will support his hardline stance, while others are sure to see him as a criminal as bad as those he guns down.
Jon Bernthal explained that his character already has his supporters:
”People have been coming up to me on the streets of New York saying, ‘Do not mess this up. This character has resonated with law enforcement and military. He’s brought the war home with him in the worst possible way. And the best thing about him is that if he offends you, he just doesn’t care.”
Also blurring some lines will be Elodie Yung as Elektra, Matt Murdock’s college sweetheart, who complicates his burgeoning relationship with Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll).
Petrie explains:
“Matt’s a deeply moral complicated guy and she’s just the best bad girlfriend you can possibly have. She does everything wrong and attractive, she’s his id, the wild side. Matt is always taming his wild side. Elektra just lets it out. He’s both repulsed and deeply drawn to that.”
It sounds like the second season could really take everything from the first season and crank it up. What are you most excited to see on Season Two?
No official release date has been announced, but ‘Daredevil’ is likely to return in April on Netflix.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
