The 'Daredevil: Born Again' Team Breaks Down that Devastating Death
Marvel Television creatives go behind the scenes of that heartbreaking premiere moment: ‘We didn’t take the decision lightly.’
Warning: This story contains spoilers for the first episode of Daredevil: Born Again.
Nelson, Murdock & Page is no more.
The first episode of Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again begins with a happy reunion, reintroducing Elden Henson’s Foggy Nelson, Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock, and Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page. Together, the three friends and law partners gather in Hell’s Kitchen for a celebratory drink, trading banter at their favorite bar Josie’s.
But the night quickly turns tragic when a former foe returns: Wilson Bethel reprises his role from the original series as killer sharpshooter Benjamin Poindexter, AKA Bullseye. As Foggy steps outside of Josie’s, Bullseye shoots him in the chest, leaving Matt’s oldest friend to bleed out on the Hell’s Kitchen sidewalk.
After a brutal battle, an enraged Matt throws Bullseye from the roof of the bar, apparently breaking his own rule to never take a life. Bullseye manages to survive the fall, but the damage has already been done: Foggy Nelson is dead.
It’s a devastating moment for Matt and Karen, and the effects of Foggy’s death ricochet through the rest of the season.
“We didn’t take the decision lightly,” Daredevil: Born Again showrunner Dario Scardapane explains. “If we’re going to do something like this, we have to feel what Matt feels. We have to have the feeling of massive loss because that loss is never going to be repaired. That loss is going to carry Matt forward.”
“It led to many impassioned debates and sleepless nights,” executive producer and head of Marvel Television Brad Winderbaum adds. “Frankly, it was something that none of us wanted to do. But these stories have a life of their own, and we’re following the characters. The truth is at the end of the day, it needed to happen to launch Matt on this trajectory. We find him in the aftermath of that, trying to live a life that he thinks is upholding the ideals of his fallen friend Foggy.”
Scardapane reveals that Foggy’s death was always a major plot point in Born Again, even in the earliest drafts. (It’s a moment loosely inspired by the comics, where Bullseye famously kills Karen in DAREDEVIL (1998) #5.) Originally, Foggy’s death took place off screen, leaving a shell-shocked Matt to pick up the pieces. But Scardapane and the creative team knew that such a heartbreaking event had to kick off the series, setting the tone for what’s to come.
“It had to be on screen,” Scardapane explains. “You had to feel it. For Matt’s world to be broken apart and rebuilt, for this to be a new origin story, something major had to happen, and it had to be a death in the family. I know that’s harsh, but it had to be the thing that took him down in order for him to rise back up.”
Winderbaum agrees. “It was something we realized we had to show on screen,” he adds. “We knew it had to come early because it had to fracture [Matt’s] life entirely and give him a whole new normal.”
Even though the cast and crew knew that Foggy’s death was essential to the series, actually filming the scene proved to be emotional. It was Cox who suggested that Matt could hear Foggy’s heartbeat as he died, the rhythm slowing until it finally stopped. Executive producer Sana Amanat remembers a somber feeling on set, as everyone stopped to witness Foggy’s final moments.
“It was a lot of quiet energy,” Amanat recalls. “We wanted to respect what was happening. We felt it. I do remember Deborah in particular: She was emotional, and she had to give herself to the scene. She was kind of drained from that.”
“I remember Deb standing next to me, shaking and covered in blood,” Scardapane adds. “It didn’t feel like acting.”
After Foggy’s death, Daredevil: Born Again flashes forward a year: Karen has relocated to San Francisco, Bullseye has been imprisoned, and Matt has hung up his Daredevil horns, choosing to live as a civilian and form a new partnership with lawyer Kirsten McDuffie (Nikki M. James).
But the Born Again team caution that Foggy’s death will have lingering effects, shaping Matt’s journey to come.
“Matt has to go through this very impactful moment that affects his soul, his heart, his mind, and his body in so many ways,” Amanat adds. “What comes from that is going to forge a new trajectory for Matt and make him attempt to understand who he is. Is he Matt Murdock, or is he Daredevil? And can he ever be both?”
New episodes of Daredevil: Born Again stream every Tuesday at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET on Disney+.
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