Born Again’s Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio on Why Season 1’s Major Shake-Up Is Necessary

[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again Season 1]

Summary

• Collider’s Steve Weintraub speaks with Daredevil: Born Again co-stars Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio.
• During their interview, the duo discuss how a beloved character’s death serves as a catalyst for Daredevil’s transformation.
• They also discuss Wilson Fisk’s struggles to balance his role as Mayor while still being a Kingpin and tease Season 2.

The return of Daredevil to the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been hotly anticipated for several years now. Charlie Cox’s beloved portrayal of Matt Murdock returned to an immense ovation in Spiderman: No Way Home, then again in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Vincent D’Onofrio’s dominating turn as Wilson Fisk, Kingpin continued his own dark path with his own appearances in Hawkeye and Echo. Now, much to Marvel fans’ delight, the return of the action-packed flagship series has arrived at its new home on Disney+, and the story of Daredevil: Born Again will finally be told.

Set a few years after the events of the original Daredevil series, Cox’s Matt Murdock and his co-workers have found a good rhythm to their work lives. Murdock has not been Daredevil for over a year after he pushed himself over his own set boundaries. Meanwhile, D’Onofrio’s Fisk is out in the open, running for Mayor of New York City. Soon, both men pursue a fresh start while falling back into their intertwined crime history. The series co-stars Margarita Levieva (The Acolyte), Deborah Ann Woll’s electrifying reprise of Karen Page, Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, and Jon Bernthal’s grand return as The Punisher, Frank Castle.

Collider’s own Steve Weintraub had the opportunity to speak with Cox and D’Onofrio to dive into the nitty-gritty of Daredevil’s return. During their interview, they discuss how Murdock and Fisk are both struggling to balance their daytime personas with their alter egos after dark, their excitement for Season 2 (or is it Season 8?), and that earth-shattering death at the very start of the season.

Matt Murdock “Will Never Be the Same Again” After ‘Daredevil: Born Again’

The death of Foggy Nelson is a “catalyst” for what’s to come.

COLLIDER: Charlie, the show gets reworked, you’re coming back, it’s being figured out. What was it like for you when you got Episode 1, and in the first 15 minutes, “We’re going to kill off one of the trio, and I’m going to be filming an insane oner, crazy fight sequence?”

CHARLIE COX: The fight sequence I can handle emotionally and physically. The fight sequence, I read it, and it’s so cool. I know Phil Silvera is going to just knock it out of the park. We’ve been on a six-year hiatus; we want to come back with a bang. We want to get people excited.

The tougher pill to swallow is what happens to my dear best friend, and I don’t know that I’ll ever quite come to terms with that—both Matt and Charlie. Foggy Nelson is one of the heartbeats of the MCU. I don’t know quite how you have a Matt Murdock or a Daredevil without him. Elden [Henson]’s done such a beautiful job with that character over the years. I’m gutted, man. I’m gutted about it. Truly. What I will say is that we needed to do something big. We wanted to rock the boat a little bit and put the fans in a state of discomfort, and offer a catalyst for everything going forward. Matt Murdock will never be the same again. The show will never be the same again, and it’s a big choice. There are some good things about it, and there’s a lot we’ve lost.

I was stunned when it all went down. Stunned.

Wilson Fisk Is Struggling With His New Responsibilities

“He’s the mayor, but he’s never not Kingpin.”

Vincent, with Kingpin, a lot of people are going to want to know, when he goes to be mayor, he could either be doing this for good to really be helping the city, and he could also be doing it to enrich himself and just gain more power. What do you want to tease about Kingpin’s arc?

VINCENT D’ONOFRIO: He’s the mayor, but he’s never not Kingpin, so you can imagine what that means. The only thing I would say, which I’ve been saying, is that if you looked at him as a vampire trying to live in the daylight, which is impossible, I think he’s sort of in that situation where it’s a real struggle for him to be out in the daylight doing what he’s doing, and that’s going to pay its toll in a way.

One of the things about Kingpin, Wilson, is the only person who has absolute control over him is Vanessa. What do you think it is about Vanessa that can reduce Wilson to someone else?

D’ONOFRIO: Because she’s in love with him, and he’s in love with her. And like any coupling or partnership, it’s an intense thing. In my opinion, you should only end up with somebody you trust, and he trusts her incredibly so, and I think that what she says he listens to, and vice versa.

Charlie, what I love about Episode 2 and the ending is that he spent a year being a regular person, and it’s only when he’s threatened by being possibly killed that his inner demon reemerges. I think a lot of people are going to want to know, is this the beginning of Daredevil coming back, or is this the beginning of him trying to balance both sides of himself?

COX: Whatever that is, it’s a never-ending battle. I don’t think there is a happy medium for him to ever find. I think what’s different, what’s becoming clear to Matt, is the awareness of that idea. If he decides or tries to deny one part of himself, he may be successful on the surface, but fundamentally, he cannot change who he is, and who he is is two people essentially. So, I would say that what happens at the end of [Episode] 2 is a hybrid because he’s not suiting up. He’s not going out looking for trouble; he is responding to a threat, and he’s fighting for his life. The problem is when Matt Murdock fights for his life, it looks and feels a lot like Daredevil, and it’s probably the small catalyst that will take us to him refinding the darker self that Fisk so rightly points to.

“Something Quite Amazing” Happens in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2

Cox says it’s some of his “favorite stuff” from the franchise.

I know you start filming part two… I don’t know if it’s “Season 2” or “Part 2.”

COX: Season 8. [Laughs]

D’ONOFRIO: Season 2.

It’s this Friday. I heard it’s eight episodes, and I’m just curious: how many of the scripts have you read, and what excites you about this part two side of the series?

COX: I’ve read six of eight, and honestly—and I don’t normally say this kind of thing; I always err on the side of caution—that’s some of my favorite stuff I’ve read of Daredevil. We’ve got Dario Scardapane, who was brought in to pivot the show back at the beginning of 2024, who ended up writing the pilot and the last two episodes of this season that’s coming out. What he’s done so far with this new season is so cool and so different and so sinister, and I’m really, really excited about it.

D’ONOFRIO: I’ve read the same amount as Charlie, six, and I love where it’s going. It’s going to be quite something by the end of it, by the end of the next season. By the end of Season 2, there’s something quite amazing I feel is going to happen. We’ve both talked to Dario about the other half of it, but we’re not completely clear on it. We haven’t read the scripts yet, but they’re going to be delivered, and we’re going to read them. But I do have an idea of some of the details of what’s going to happen midway through and past, and it’s intense. It’s quite something. Like Charlie just said, I wouldn’t say that unless I felt it. It’s going to be a lot of work. We have a lot of work ahead of us. It’s going to be emotional and full of physical altercations. [Laughs] I don’t know what to say, but it’s going to be a crazy season.

Episodes 1 and 2 of Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 are available to stream on Disney+. Subsequent episodes will be released every Tuesday.