Why Netflix Will Cancel The Punisher

Marvel's The Punisher returns in 2019, but then it'll probably be gone for good.

The Punisher Jon Bernthal
Netflix

Netflix have confirmed that Marvel's The Punisher will return for Season 2 in January, 2019, but the news is rather bittersweet because, well, they're almost certainly going to cancel it not long afterwards.

While even just a few months ago it looked like the Netflix Marvel shows were untouchable - even Iron Fist got a second season, after all - the streaming service have started wielding the axe over the last eight weeks or so, cancelling Iron Fist and Luke Cage in quick succession, before more shockingly (and devastatingly) canning Daredevil as well.

It means that the excitement for The Punisher's return is dampened, because it surely can't last. Frank Castle is a popular character, and the first season of the show was well received when it debuted last year, especially with audiences. For example, its Rotten Tomatoes critics score is 66%, but its audience score is a whopping 93%, bettered in this universe only by Daredevil.

Even that, though, isn't going to be enough to save it, because the likelihood is that Netflix have already made up their mind, and that The Punisher is going to be cancelled at some point in 2019.

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NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.