'The Punisher' dropped its second season onto Netflix this weekend, with Jon Bernthal back in action as Frank Castle.
While the second season does have its moments, there's no denying that there's a definite likelihood that this will be the last season of 'The Punisher' on Netflix for the time being. In the last few months, 'Luke Cage', 'Daredevil', 'Iron Fist' and 'The Defenders' have all been axed by the streaming service.
So far, only 'Jessica Jones' and 'The Punisher' are left standing. When asked about the hope for a third season by EW, both showrunner Steve Lightfoot and head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb made their feelings clear on the topic. "We have a whole story in mind that would be awesome, but again, the guns are locked and loaded, but Netflix has the finger on the trigger," said Loeb.
Lightfoot, meanwhile, appeared to be more philosophical about the scenario. While he said that he designed the final shot of the second season to leave viewers wanting a third season, he's aware that every season could be your last. "Don’t save anything for next season, even if that means you’ve painted yourself into a corner. But make every season the best it can be, and hopefully it speaks for itself."
Netflix, of course, doesn't release viewing figures for their shows and there's no way of telling how people watched 'The Punisher' from an outside metric as all of the figures would merely be estimates. This, in turn, makes it hard to know whether Netflix is basing their decision to axe these shows on the basis of viewing figures or something else.
Given how 'Daredevil' appeared to be a successful series, both critically and with audiences, you have to wonder what the decision-making process was that led to its cancellation - and whether that same process is being applied to 'The Punisher' as we speak.
