Posted in: Marvel Studios, Movies, Netflix, TV | Tagged: HRL, marvel, netflix, The Punisher, tv

The Punisher Season 1: They Are Hesitant To Label Frank And Karen's Relationship

No one was really that surprised when Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle got his own Netflix series after his premiere in Daredevil. One of the other things that came out of that second season was how well Frank and Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) ended up bouncing off of each other. Now Karen is back for the first season of The Punisher and showrunner Steve Lightfoot spoke to The Tracking Board about why he's hesitant to put a name to their relationship.

"They're just both amazing actors," Lightfoot told Tracking Board ahead of the show's premiere. "The guys on Daredvil wrote some great scenes for them, and they were just so good. I just thought they were great together and they were shooting Defenders at the time and I just said, 'Can we get [Deborah]? We should find a place for Karen in there.' I think it's because in many ways, they're two equals. She's one of the few people on the show that Frank respects and therefore cares what she thinks. And that bond has gotten strong enough that she's not afraid to tell him what she thinks. They share darkness but also a lot of humanity. I was always fascinated by the stuff in Daredevil where we found she'd killed and I kind of love that they still haven't told us what that's all about. So it's her understanding of where he comes from in a way that not many people do, that gave the relationship a depth. And it also gives her the ability to be the person who looks at him and says, 'What you're doing isn't right.' In some ways, she's the one who questions his actions the most. And really, you just love watching those two actors work together."

Lightfood believes that defining what exists between these two people would take away from the dynamic.

"I think the moment you define chemistry like that, you immediately put a sell-by date on it, it then becomes a narrative," Lightfoot said. "I sort of love that lots of people see it there and the potential for it, but in some ways I feel like the minute we put a label on a relationship, it loses some of its magic. And Karen is obviously on the other shows and doing stuff over there, so… Who knows? Who knows what will happen down the line?"

Karen isn't the only person Frank has regular contact with, and bringing in new characters forced Frank to interact with people when he would rather not.

"There's a version of the show where he never speaks to anyone, ever," Lightfoot joked. "In the end, revenge for its own sake becomes very reductive and cold. Something we had to do on the show was give him something to fight for in the present rather than it all being about the past. [Bringing in new characters] also forces him to engage. The thing about a guy like Frank, who's full of rage and grief, he doesn't want to feel. Some of the best stuff in the show and the fun of the show, is when he's forced to feel. Deep down, everyone needs that human contact, somewhere, even if they're denying it. So a lot of the characters force him to care and give a damn about people."

If this show gets a second season, which we don't know if it will yet, the end of the series sets up a ton of stuff that would be fun to explore in the future. One of those things is absolutely this relationship between Frank and Karen — lack of definition or not.

Summary: After the murder of his family, Frank Castle becomes a vigilante known as "the Punisher", who aims to fight crime by any means necessary.

The Punisher, from showrunner Steve Lightfoot, stars Jon Bernthal, Jason R. Moore, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Michael Nathanson, Jamie Ray Newman, and Amber Rose Revah. It's streaming to Netflix now.

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