Marvel Daredevil Season 2 Release Date, Cast Update: Will the Punisher Make the Show Adults-Only?

By Mark Rollins
Marvel and Netflix's Daredevil series.
Season 2 coming in March 2016. Netflix/Marvel

Netflix has been able to produce some very good series in the past few years, but Daredevil was a home run thanks to the big hitters at Marvel Studios adapting one of their most famous masked vigilantes.  It is very clear that Season 2 is going to have some more developments for blind lawyer Matt Murdock and company, including appearances from two more vigilantes with The Punisher and Electra.  This is what is known about Daredevil Season 2 Release Date and Cast update. 

The show's former executive producer and showrunner Steven DeKnight has been quoted as saying that Daredevil is PG-16.  This refers to the amount of violence that is shown on the Netflix show, as it is pretty violent, but not to the point where it is R-rated.  DeKnight has stated that "I have no idea if they're planning to push it that far next season but I would be surprised", according to Ecumenical News.

Considering that they are going to add the Punisher, this could easily tip it into R-rated territory.  The Punisher has even had three movies made about him, and he is most famous for his shirt with the skull emblazed on his chest.  It is not known if Netflix will use that look, but the Punisher, aka Frank Castle, was a war veteran with a family that was killed, and so he takes revenge on the criminals, by any means necessary.  Yes, The Punisher kills his enemies, so I guess that makes him more of an antihero. Is Castle going to set the storyline for Season 2?  The Punisher has tried to kill the Kingpin several times in the comics. 

A recent report from Vine Report also talked to the former showrunner Steven DeKnight.  He is pretty glad that Season 2 will have The Punisher, and that putting him on will allow the Marvel Cinematic Universe to embrace the character's source material roots.  Marvel states that Jon Bernthal, an actor best known for his roles on The Wolf of Wall Street, Fury, and TV's The Walking Dead, has been cast as The Punisher.  For those who are unaware of this character, he is one of Marvel's most popular superheroes, but he definitely delves into some villain territory. In fact, some recent set photos of Bernthal as The Punisher have begun appearing.  Yahoo News shows Bernthal fighting a lot of people, and his face is seriously cut up. 

Marvel has recently announced that casting of Elodie Yung in the role of Elektra for Season 2 of the Netflix series, a very well-known character from the comic-book source material.  Elektra was a fan-favorite character that Daredevil fell for, but was unfortunately killed by an assassin named Bullseye. 

It is not known if Bullseye will be making an appearance on the show, as there hasn't been any casting information on this.  The first season had allusions to these characters, but they were quite subtle.  There is a scene where Matthew Murdock (Daredevil's real name) is talking with his friend and law partner Foggy Nelson, and the latter mentions that Matt had a girlfriend in the past.

There is also a scene in Season 1 where we see a sniper who happens to have a deck of cards near him.  The sniper's face is not seen, but the cards could be a reference to Bullseye, who liked to employ them often. 

The interesting aspect of watching a movie or TV show based on Marvel comics source material is that the viewer is usually just watching part of a story.  In the case of Netflix's Daredevil, it is already planned to be a part of a bigger story as Matt Murdock will be joining a team known as The Defenders.  There will be four shows that Netflix will air with these team members, and there are a lot of plans for Daredevil Season 2. 

Business Insider reports that Marvel has a plan for its Netflix series from Netflix president Ted Sarandos.  He says that "there will be a rhythm of about every six months you'll get a new season or a new series from the Defenders group".  The Defenders is a plan to group the heroes from the Netflix Marvel Cinematic Universe together, which includes Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. 

The Jessica Jones series will begin sometime in late 2015, and will star Kristyn Ritter and David Tennant.  Then, six months later, there will be Luke Cage, which will star Mike Colter as the lead character.  Another six months later will be Iron Fist, and I would imagine that the second season of Daredevil will have to fit in there somewhere, along with the Defenders series that will combine all four of these characters into one team.   

Whatever the case, it doesn't look like Daredevil Season 2 will return to Netflix until sometime in 2016. There is the possibility of cross-overs with other shows that take place in this Netflix Marvel Cinematic Universe as well, and there are reports that there could be a Punisher series as well.