The Punisher Season 2 Trailer Details Frank's Next Mission, Teases Billy's Instability

Frank Castle is back on the job and back in the fight in the newest trailer for season 2 of Marvel's The Punisher. 

Shared to Netflix's YouTube page on Thursday morning, the footage reveals that Frank (Jon Bernthal) has taken on a new mission: protecting a teenage girl named Amy (Giorgia Whigham) from danger. The forces of evil that threaten Amy's life eventually partner up with someone from Frank's personal life, a friend-turned-foe that fans know is his biggest nemesis. It's none other than Billy Russo (Ben Barnes), who redefines "enraged" and "unstable" as he resurfaces with a scar-ridden face and a taste for vengeance, slowly transforming into a version of the Punisher comics villain Jigsaw. 

The unveiling of this new trailer comes after Netflix teased that The Punisher would return to the platform "soon," dropped a tiny look at the superhero series that featured an unseen man flicking a lighter and burning Frank's official pardon from the United States Department of Homeland Security that he received at the end of season 1, and then confirmed the new episodes of The Punisher would be available to stream on Friday, January 18. 

It also follows after the streamer rolled out the first Punisher season 2 trailer, which encapsulated the affects Frank and Billy's cataclysmic falling-out and brutal face-off they had in the series' season 1 finale had on the two men. In the last moments of the announcement date trailer, Frank hinted at his desire to bloody his hands once more, saying in voiceover, "You need to let me be what I'm meant to be. I'm not the one who dies, I'm the one who does the killing." — a phrase he repeats in this official trailer.

While Frank is prepared to get down to business, Billy is battling serious inner demons. According to actor Barnes, Billy's scars (which Frank gave him at the end of season 1) alter his psyche and mental well-being in ways he couldn't imagine; the disfigurements are even more psychologically affecting than they are physically. 

"The repercussions of the fight at the end of the first season are very much marked on his face," Barnes once explained to Collider. "They didn't necessarily want it to be a horror show, it's more internal. We don't refer to the character, in the series, as Jigsaw. But he very much has a jigsaw puzzle in his brain. It's not necessarily about his face, it's about the psychological, which is how they try and approach everything. Particularly this season, even more than last season. It's about what's in his head ...  He's had his head very much traumatized, in the same way that veterans receive these head traumas. And psychological trauma as well. So he's dealing with those things very much in a similar way that veterans deal with coming back from war. That's what he sort of believes he's gone through. He's got brain damage. Severe issues with his memory. I won't go into specifically what he can and cannot remember, but he's trying to piece together what happened to him and who he is."

As for Frank, vowing to watch over the street-savvy Amy gives him a reason to come out of retirement, re-immerse himself in his life of violence, and embark on a journey that could have devastating consequences. Nothing is ever simple in Frank's life — especially not when he grows close to people who walk around with giant red targets on their backs. Amy is now one of those people, and it's up to Frank to offer her unwavering protection. He's got the physical prowess and the unmatched skills in swinging weapons and cracking skulls to do so, but Billy's presence in the situation will certainly complicate things. Will he get inside Frank's head to the point that Amy's safety is risked beyond recompense? Only season 2 will tell. 

Queue up The Punisher season 2 on Netflix starting on Friday, January 18.