'The Punisher' Showrunner Addresses If Fan Reaction Will Change Season 2

The success of The Punisher's first season is only helping fuel it into 13 more episodes on [...]

The success of The Punisher's first season is only helping fuel it into 13 more episodes on Netflix.

The Punisher showrunner Steve Lightfoot opened up about his upcoming second season with the show recently, where he was asked if the fan reaction to the first season, which was overwhelmingly positive, had any effect on his work with the new batch of episodes.

"That's always tricky because you get such a variation, some people love it, some people hate it, some people are in the middle," Lightfoot told Collider. "My personal opinion with that stuff is you just have to be true to the character and the story you choose to tell. You want them to love it obviously, but if you start worrying about the audience it can be a trap. I think we just have to keep trying to be true to Frank's character and make him someone people want to hang out with."

It might help, though, the Lightfoot had an idea for the overarching series when he began work on the show's first season, to some extent. He admits there was "very loosely" a plan beyond the first 13 episodes. "What happens when you then start writing a season is you find things and writers come up with things and things appear in episodes and it sort of takes on a life of itself, so you can't be too rigid with that stuff," Lightfoot said. "I always knew what the journey of Season 1 was which meant I knew what Season 2 would be."

With some fans suggested Marvel's Netflix shows might be better off if they dropped three hours from their seasons, reducing their episodes count from 13 to 10, which is an idea Lightfoot is familiar with. "It's an interesting thing, that," Lightfoot said. "People have always said to me, 'Do you wish you'd have had 10?' and then I say, 'Well then you would've had less story.' I always wanted it to be a slow burn show. I always felt like we had the right amount for 13, and you've gotta have enough story for that but I like how slow burn and character-driven the shows are."

The first season of The Punisher is now streaming on Netflix. There's no official release date for the second season at this time. What are you hoping to see in The Punisher's second season? Leave your thoughts and theories in the comment section below.

(via Collider)

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