‘The Punisher’ Season 2 Is About Frank Castle Embracing His Vigilante Identity

The first season of The Punisher was less about Frank Castle living up to his name, and more about exploring the circumstances that made him willing to kill criminals.

Though he does wear a kevlar vest with a skull painted on, Frank doesn’t really embrace his role as the Punisher in the first season. Expect that to happen in Season 2, says The Punisher showrunner Steve Lightfoot.

“If you ask, ‘What is the theme of Season 2?’,” Lightfoot told Collider, “It’s about Frank really adopting the mantle of The Punisher.”

The series will be the first Marvel Netflix series that does not begin in New York City, and will instead will start with a tour of the United States before Frank returns home to wrap up some loose ends. The first few episodes will show the title character “getting a look at the country he fought for but has never really seen,” according to Lightfoot.

In the new episodes, Frank will start off in casual clothes before upgrading to his signature comic book appearance — and the change will be significant to the story, a symbolic gesture, according to actor Jon Bernthal.

“This year, when he puts it on, we figured out a very intelligent, very tactical reason, a very psychologically tactical reason to wear it. It makes a lot of sense,” said Bernthal.

Bernthal addressed the costume in Season 1 and revealed that they almost included an introduction of the vest that he wasn’t very proud of, so he fought against it.

“There was going to be a whole scene with Micro where they’re at the computer figuring [the suit] out,” Bernthal said. “That was going to be the first time with him in the vest. [Micro] was just gonna’ sort of be drinking tea and I’m like, ‘You can’t do that. It’s gonna’ look so friggin’ stupid.’”

The Punisher Season 2 will not address the snap from Avengers: Infinity War, continuing the separation of Marvel Television and Marvel Studios, but it will include some returning villains.

Ben Barnes is going to return as Billy Russo, though he won’t be going by his comic book super villain name Jigsaw.

The second season will also include a new villain in John Pilgrim, described as an alt-right Christian Fundamentalist.

We’ll see how fans react to the second season of The Punisher when it premieres on Netflix sometime in January 2019.