THE PUNISHER Season 2 Showrunner Breaks Down Epic Shootout Between John Pilgrim And Frank Castle

THE PUNISHER Season 2 Showrunner Breaks Down Epic Shootout Between John Pilgrim And Frank Castle

The Punisher showrunner Steve Lightfoot breaks down the monstrous shootout in the Season 2 finale which saw Frank Castle versus John Pilgrim, along with the symbolism of the hotel rooms. SPOILERS ahead!

By HeavyMetal4Life - Jan 24, 2019 10:01 AM EST
Filed Under: The Punisher
Source: ComicBook.com
The Punisher Season 2 featured some fantastic action sequences, with the show really ratcheting up the brutality in its sophomore season. One scene in particular that was quite impressive was an epic shootout in the finale between Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) and John Pilgrim (Josh Stewart), with both characters completely destroying a pair of hotel rooms.  As viewers will no doubt recall, Pilgrim was occupying two rooms, having stolen one from his neighbor and taking possession of the drugs, alcohol and prostitutes inside. Speaking with ComicBook.com, showrunner Steve Lightfoot described how the rooms were symbolic of the different lives Pilgrim had lived, with one representing his devotion to family and God and the other the sins of his past life.

When we were developing the scripts, we came to this idea that in a way Pilgrim, he stole the room from the guy nextdoor, it was full of drugs and booze, and the idea was that these two rooms became the warring sides of Pilgrim. There was the guy who used to be, that was a very tempting place to go back to, and then there was the one where he was now the family man who just wanted to get home. 

Lightfoot referred to the rooms as "almost the Jekyll room and the Hyde room," and stated that this theme of conflicting past and present lives also applies to Frank, noting that his murderous ways are also a result of trauma relating to his family. Therefore, they made sure to take the action to the hotel and have both Frank and Pilgrim moving between both rooms throughout the fight. 

It was always this idea of mirroring, and then just having fun with the practicality of, you're in that room, I'm in this room, how do we swap, how do we change it up. So we wrote a version into the scripts, that, if you like, was driven by theme and where we'd gotten these guys to, and then let the stunt coordinator and the guys loose on it.

Lightfoot also revealed that the rooms were built as a set, enabling them to completely destroy them and allowing the stunt team to concoct the ultimate gun-blazing shootout between the Punisher and Pilgrim. The crew was even able to continue the action into the elevator as Frank incapacitates several cops that were responding to the shooting.

We had built those two rooms as sets, so we weren't in a real hotel, so we had carte blanche to do whatever we wanted with that location. So we wrote a version into the script, and then I said to the stunt guys, 'Look, just run with it. And then come back, show me what you've got.' And it came from them, refined it from there. We were shooting that sequence into the elevator, we were shooting that for quite a long time, that was a real labor of love.

Were you impressed by the hotel shootout between the Punisher and Pilgrim? Be sure to share your thoughts about this highlight of The Punisher Season 2 below.
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HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 1/23/2019, 5:56 PM
Pilgrim was a freaking badass and a highlight from season 2. Wish we had spent more time with him and that they had further fleshed out his background and made him the primary villain.

HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 1/23/2019, 5:57 PM
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 1/24/2019, 9:22 AM
This season had a lot of great action. The stunt crew really did a great job with some of the action scenes. Highlights for me:

- bar fight in first episode
- "Assault on Precint 13" and Frank killing Pilgrim's men in the forest
- street shoutout with Russo
- gym fight against Russians
- Pilgrim vs Nazis
- infiltrating Russo's base (ep. 10, the season's best episode)
- escape from hospital and freeway shootout (the music and creativity in the escape was great)
- hotel shootout with Pilgrim and elevator fight (what a thing of beauty)
- Frank v John hand to hand
knocturnalzen10
knocturnalzen10 - 1/24/2019, 10:54 AM
best villain on the show imo
derian7
derian7 - 1/24/2019, 11:28 AM
@knocturnalzen10 - Yeah his arc was more interesting than Russo and discount Harley Quinn
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 1/24/2019, 11:31 AM
@knocturnalzen10 - so good

GhostDog
GhostDog - 1/24/2019, 11:20 AM
One of the most satisfying Netflix skirmishes. Pilgrim is a beast.
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 1/24/2019, 11:29 AM
@BlackBeltJones -
GhostDog
GhostDog - 1/24/2019, 11:52 AM
@HeavyMetal4Life - soooooooooooo good. Felt like some John Wick shit/John Woo shit.
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 1/24/2019, 11:57 AM
@BlackBeltJones - love when Frank just bursts through the wall! Certainly was some John Wick level shit!!
WakandaTech
WakandaTech - 1/24/2019, 11:24 AM
E4Nigma
E4Nigma - 1/24/2019, 11:39 AM
Pilgrim is the best villain from the series. Josh Stewart did great playing the character.
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 1/24/2019, 11:45 AM
@E4Nigma - My major villain ranking for the two Punisher seasons:

1. Billy Russo
2. Pilgrim
3. Jigsaw
4. Agent Orange

Pilgrim might be on the same level as Billy or at number one for me, will decide on a rewatch. For now, very close between those two.
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 1/24/2019, 12:23 PM
Alright, time to update the list again of the best Marvel TV villains, in order of appearance.





















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