0 5 mins 8 yrs

New series jumps straight into the action.

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© Netflix

Netflix has released new images for the second season of Daredevil, starring Charlie Cox as blind superhero Matt Murdock aka Daredevil, along with some very interesting new cast additions.

The new pictures reveal a first-look at The Walking Dead‘s Jon Bernthal’s as Frank Castle aka ‘The Punisher’ – the former Special Forces soldier with a tragic past who becomes the controversial gun-toting vigilante. And Elodie Yung as Matt’s old college girlfriend, Elektra (also an anti-hero, who is promised to be very different from Jennifer Garner’s film version).

“Matt’s a deeply moral complicated guy and she’s just the best bad girlfriend you can possibly have,” Showrunner Doug Petrie told EW. “She does everything wrong and attractive, she’s his id, the wild side. Matt is always taming his wild side. Elektra just lets it out. He’s both repulsed and deeply drawn to that.”

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Elodie Yung as Elektra.

Daredevil season 2 is said to include more sex scenes as Matt gets closer to both Elektra and his friend and colleague Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) – who viewers may remember is also the object of Matt’s best friend Foggy’s (Elden Henson) unrequited affections.

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Matt & Karen get closer, but how will it affect their relationship with Foggy?

Many fans may breathe a sigh (or eye) of relief as the new series is set to be less dark following complaints about the dimly lit first series: “It will still be dark, but we’ve added more layers,” Petrie says..

Rosario Dawson and Scott Glenn will also both be reprising their roles in Season 2 as Claire Temple and Stick.

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No more blindfolds as Daredevil embraces the suit.

Showrunner Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez commented “The advantage of any sequel is you can dive right in,” Petrie says. “We hit the ground running and then we ran as fast as we f—ing could.”

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The three friends Matt, Karen & Foggy take a moment.

Whether The Punisher is a hero or a villain is left open to interpretation (and has long been argued). Will viewers be rooting for the gun wielding vigilante over Daredevil?

“Viewers watching the show will be rooting for this guy with a gun but we’re also going to force people — the way we force Matt — to second-guess themselves,” Petrie says. “Taking lethal justice into your own hands in America in 2015 is tricky s–t. We have not shied away from the rich complicated reality of Now. If you’ve got a gun and you’re not the police you’re going to incite strong feelings. We’re stirring the pot and we’re aware of the headlines where we live and we’re trying to get people to think.”

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Will viewers side with The Punisher’s version of Justice?

Ramirez added their version of The Punisher is inspired by Taxi Driver’s famous malcontent Travis Bickle: “He has a different moral code. Matt is a devout Catholic — and you rarely see a character who’s a devotee anything on TV. Frank has Hammurabi’s Code. It’s like letting a great white shark into the water.”

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Daredevil asks “Is this light enough?”

Thanks to his time on The Walking Dead, Bernthal is no stranger to playing comic book characters but admitted he felt pressure to get this character right. ”People have been coming up to me on the streets of New York saying, ‘Do not mess this up’. This character has resonated with law enforcement and military. He’s brought the war home with him in the worst possible way. And the best thing about him is that if he offends you, he just doesn’t care.”

Daredevil returns to Netflix on Friday, 18th March 2016.