As other Marvel Netflix shows endured, The Punisher’s season 2 viewership trended down. However, the drop was not as cataclysmic as others in their sophomore seasons.
The Punisher only released its second season on Netflix seven days ago, but cancelation felt inevitable months ago due to the end of Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Daredevil in 2018. That placed the Jon Bernthal-led show as a lame duck program, remaining the case as of Jan. 25.
A trend between those three canceled shows: all had viewership plummet from season 1 to season 2, or 3 in Daredevil‘s case. Other factors may have played into their respective demise, but losing viewers obviously doesn’t help.
Well, per Business Insider, The Punisher lost 40 percent of its viewers from the first season. While seemingly poor, it retained more people than the other three shows, and Jessica Jones, from season 1 to season 2, which the article broke down.
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If there’s any hope for another Frank Castle go-around, it’s this. Losing nearly half of The Punisher‘s viewers isn’t great, but if sustainability exists in this show, then it leaves some hope for Netflix to shockingly renew the grittiest of the Marvel streaming shows.
Daredevil and Jessica Jones, which returns later this year, were the only Marvel Netflix shows to receive a third season; with the grim fate of this universe, it’s fair to expect Jessica Jones to finish after its junior year, as well.
Those shows proved a third season under the Netflix umbrella can happen. While both were announced long before the cancelations, it’s still a sign, that these programs had support.
However, there’s the looming Disney Plus streaming service ahead. Maybe it’s a coincidence that Netflix started axing their Marvel shows as the House of Mouse moved towards its entrance into the online-digital media world, but Disney’s agreement with Netflix to host Marvel content ends in 2019.
Maybe they work a deal to keep just The Punisher and Jessica Jones around, but if three shows from this universe are gone, and Disney is about to take Netflix’s Marvel films away, it seems unlikely any kind of partnership continues into the next decade.
The Punisher may have positive carryover from its freshman to sophomore season, and, if anything, that’s the reason to return it for one last ride. Given recent history and impending events, though, odds are four of the five Marvel Netflix shows will no longer exist soon.