Daredevil season 3 stars discuss Matt and Karen’s coming journeys through darkness, doubt, and defiance.
Three seasons in, fans of Netflix’s Daredevil are familiar with the series’ dark tones and moody characters. Stars Charlie Cox and Deborah Ann Woll tell Hypable that the past two seasons (and change, if you count The Defenders and Punisher) were just a bit of a warmup for some of the brutal contemplations to come in Daredevil season 3.
Related: Daredevil season 3 trailer officially introduces Bullseye
According to Cox, Matt Murdock will still be reeling from the double-whammy of the death of his love Elektra in Daredevil season 2, as well as the small matter of having “a building falling on him” when Murdock was last seen in The Defenders. Clawing his way out from “the places that Matt has been to in previous seasons,” he tells Hypable, will not exactly be easy, but from Cox’s perspective, all that darkness may spark some light ahead.
“There’s an expression I have, which is when you are at your absolute lowest, you have to remember that you are one step away from enlightenment,” Cox says. “Which is the way I thought about it when [filming the season], like [Matt] is seemingly scratching around at rock bottom. And you keep scratching and suddenly you have an epiphany, or something happens that enables you to kind of rise above it in a way that you’ve never been capable of before.”
Meanwhile, Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page will have to add Matt’s apparent death to her own pile of issues in Daredevil season 3 — problems of both the past and the present. Karen’s somewhat destructive journey (she has a tendency to leave bodies in her wake) leaves Woll somewhat divided in her feelings on the character.
“In a weird way, as Deborah, I object to that,” she says of the idea that her character has taken a uniquely bloody path through her story, “But I feel that Karen would agree. As Karen, I think that is my fear. My fear that everything I touch I destroy, and that I’m a dangerous person. And that as hard as I try to do the right thing, people still die sometimes because of what I do.”
According to Woll, Karen’s journey in Daredevil season 3 will see her confront that possibility, included deep-seated mysteries that may finally see the light of day. Yes, that means some long-overdue Karen backstory!
Using clues laid down in previous seasons, Woll says that showrunner Erik Oleson “put together the best version of her backstory that [the writers] wanted to tell.”
“It was a hefty challenge that one,” she admits. “I think it came out great, I’m really pleased with what we got to.”
For his part, Oleson promises that Karen’s secrets are a key to the overall story. “We go very deep on Karen this season,” he says. “If you keep watching, you’re gonna learn everything that you ever wanted to know.”
Daredevil season 3 hits to Netflix on Oct. 19.