- Marvel’s “Daredevil: Born Again,” the revival of the Netflix show will stream on Disney+ in March.
- Ayelet Zurer returns to play Vanessa Fisk, the wife of Kingpin, the brutal crimelord.
- Zurer told Business Insider that her character Vanessa “took over” for Kingpin after season three.
Fans of the Netflix series “Daredevil” can expect most of the same cast in Marvel’s recent revival “Daredevil: Born Again.” But circumstances have shifted for the series’ antagonist crimelord Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) according to Ayelet Zurer, who plays his wife, Vanessa Marianna-Fisk.
Both Neflix series and Disney+ Marvel reboot revolves around Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), a blind lawyer who moonlights as Daredevil, a vigilante defending Hell’s Kitchen in New York.
“Daredevil” premiered on Netflix in 2015 as a collaboration between Netflix and Disney. But the two studio giants cut ties in 2018, and “Daredevil” was canceled. The show’s reboot is streaming on Disney + in March 2025.
The first three seasons of the original follow Murdock’s pursuit of crimelord Wilson Frisk, also known as Kingpin.
In the reboot, set several years later, Kingpin is dealing with a complex relationship with his wife, Zurer told Business Insider.
Zurer said fans will see a more mature version of the couple. “Things changed in their relationship. We come in after a gap of time where they also haven’t been together, I won’t say too much about that. But when they return, they are the very strange lovers that they are,” she said.
She added that the pair “start from mistrust and go back to trust, which is their core essence.”
The actor then hinted Vanessa has stepped up to run Kingpin’s empire in the time between “Daredevil” season three and “Born Again.”
Zurer teased: “Am I allowed to say? I didn’t ask! Well, since he was gone, she took over a little bit and it’s very hard to pull away from that. So some things are not sitting well and they have to deal with that.”
Zurer said to BI the revival will follow how this shift in power plays out between Kingpin and Vanessa. It’s a surprising character evolution for Vanessa who started out as an art dealer in “Daredevil” season one in 2015.
Zurer said she was initially disappointed when she found out Vanessa was originally recast with another actor for the reboot.
She said: “I am always speaking to Vincent. He’s a friend of mine, we’re close friends. It didn’t work out, and there was a great disappointment on my side, but I always, always wish him and also wished the team luck.”
However, after production paused during the actor’s strike in 2023, Marvel completely overhauled the reboot with the help of its new showrunner, Dario Scardapane, and Zurer was offered to reprise her role as Vanessa.
Zurer told BI she was delighted to return. “It was such a nice surprise, you know, for me, cause I really, really liked the show and I really like the relationship and working with Vincent was always one of my, you know, highlights of career,” she said.
D’Onofrio was always confident the Marvel series would get a second chance. He told People at a D23 event in August 2024 his inability to let go of “Daredevil” verged on “pathetic.” But his conviction was correct. “Daredevil: Born Again” will stream on Disney+ in March 2025, nearly 10 years after it originally debuted on Netflix.
