Maxance Vincent
Ten years after the premiere of the original Netflix television series, Charlie Cox is back to don the suit of the Man Without Fear once more in Daredevil: Born Again. And for the 42-year-old actor, who spoke to Awards Radar on his time in the series on Zoom, coming back to play this iconic character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe still feels a bit surreal:
“I’m still pinching myself about it. I really am. I genuinely never thought that we’d be back making the show, certainly not in a kind of ongoing capacity. I’m trying to relish it as much as possible and enjoy every moment. It’s such a gift of a job.”
With the return of Daredevil on the screen comes some new challenges for the character, including, at the very top of Born Again, the death of Foggy Nelson, Matt’s best friend and one of the original show’s best characters. For Cox, the decision to kill such a beloved protagonist felt sad, especially “when you think that there’s so much material that we don’t get to have. There was so much lovely storytelling between those two friends.
Other than Elden embodying the role so beautifully and bringing so much life to it, it was also a great device to get into the mind of Matt Murdock and really see how it affects the people around him. I understand that if you’re going to bring a show back after six or seven years,, you obviously have to come back with a bang and shake things up a bit. You want the audience to know that they’re not safe in this world, that at any given moment, the rug can be pulled up from underneath you. But it was a tough pill to swallow.”
On the flip side, an interesting arc is formed for Matt after the death of Foggy, as “he’s made a commitment to his in honor of his best friend to give up Daredevil entirely. It’s what people call living amends. You can’t make amends to that person face to face because they’re not here anymore, so you make amends by living your best life in honor of them. He makes that commitment, and the journey of that season is either the evolution or the devolution, however you want to look at it, back into the suit.
That was what was fun to play with because, on the one hand, in those few episodes before he suits up, he’s living his best life, because he’s not out all night fighting bad guys. He can have a girlfriend, he can go to restaurants, and he’s not beaten up. He’s getting sleep and doing what he loves, making a difference as a lawyer again. So in some ways, his life is working, and there is an integrity to his opinion of himself that I think is significant. Having a real relationship for the first time, maybe ever, is wonderful. It was fun to play with this character and to explore that.
On the other hand, he’s denying an essential part of himself. He’s denying this alter-ego, which is much a part of his truth, if not the primary truth of his life. It will always be one of the most interesting things to witness with Matt Murdock: that pull in two different directions. I think that has to be at the crux of this character, and it’s really fun to play with and explore.”
Of course, there was much more to discuss on Cox’s incredible performance as Matt Murdock, including developing that push-pull as the episodes progress, mirroring the stories of both Matt and Fisk’s return to Daredevil and Kingpin, reuniting with Wilson Bethel, and working with directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead after the show underwent a creative overhaul.
You can check out the full interview below and stream all episodes of Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+ today:
[Some of the quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity]
Comments
Loading…