Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, Episode 5.

Summary

Ayelet Zurer discusses Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, Episode 5, and how much Vanessa’s death will impact Wilson Fisk moving forward this season.

Zurer discusses finding out about the character’s death and mourning her loss alongside Vincent D’Onofrio, as the showrunners decided that her death was necessary to make the season explosive.

Zurer reveals what was the most tedious part about playing her character and what she’ll miss the most now that her time on the series is over.

Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 has been a wild ride since its return three weeks ago, and its most recent episode, “The Grand Design,” offered yet another blow to audiences. At the end of Episode 4, “Gloves Off,” audiences watched as Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) took to the ring for a public boxing match at Fogwell’s Gym, setting a trap for Bullseye (Wilson Bethel). However, plans go awry when Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) arrives at the end of Fisk’s match against his wishes. When Bullseye arrives, his face-off with the Fisks ultimately leads to Vanessa taking a fatal blow.

Vanessa has always been the other half to Fisk, seen both as a Lady Macbeth and also a tempering force at his side when he’s at his most chaotic. She’s spent the last few seasons supporting him, even through the ups and downs in their marriage, and it’s clear that if there’s one person that Fisk genuinely loves in the world, it’s Vanessa. After the attack at the gym, “The Grand Design” is a clear send-off for the character as the episode flashes back to the day leading right up to Fisk meeting his future wife at the art gallery. The episode takes a grisly turn as Vanessa dies in the hospital after finally regaining consciousness. Collider spoke with Zurer about Vanessa’s final episode and what it was like to learn that the beloved character was going to be killed off this season. Zurer shared her and D’Onofrio’s reaction to learning about her character’s death as well as how the aftermath will affect New York now that Fisk has lost the person he is closest to.
Ayelet Zurer Reveals How Vincent D’Onofrio Tried To Keep Vanessa Alive in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’

“I had a bunch of conversations with Vincent after, and we mourned it…”

Ayelt Zurer as Vanessa Fisk in Daredevil: Born AgainImage via Disney

COLLIDER: When did you find out that this was going to be your last season on this show, and what was your reaction to finding out that Vanessa dies? AYELET ZURER: I got a call from Dario [Scardapane], and then I got a call from Sana [Amanat]. They were really protective, and they wanted me to feel good about how and why, and why it is important for the story. Obviously, I had a bunch of conversations with Vincent [D’Onofrio] after, and we mourned it, and I think maybe tried to change the tune, but it was sort of inevitable. It was sad. Listen, it’s always sad, especially if you have such a long journey, but I really understood where they wanted to take the show and why they needed that gun to blow everything up. Was there ever a possibility of you talking Dario into keeping her around, if you got Vincent along with you to be like, “Maybe we should try and keep her for a bit?” ZURER: [Laughs] I think Vincent tried. Okay, good. I respect him for that! ZURER: Listen, he’s been my protector since the beginning of the show. He’s always been a rock, so I really appreciate that. But they really had set their mind that they really wanted that season to be so explosive that they needed all the ammunition for that.
Zurer Breaks Down How Bad Vanessa’s Death Will Be for Wilson Fisk

“Emotionally, he was always her skin, and she was always his heart on the inside.”

Vanessa is a really balancing force for Wilson Fisk throughout the story. She kind of tempers his worst impulses, and sometimes encourages them, but she’s also somebody that he really, genuinely loves. Should we be worried about Kingpin now that Vanessa has passed? Is this now a worst-case scenario? ZURER: Oh yeah. For sure. Emotionally, he was always her skin, and she was always his heart on the inside. So, one without the other is sort of like yin and yang going out of proportion, and there’s no balance to that. So, I think things are going to go devastatingly bad. Ominous. It’s interesting because in the previous episode, Fisk basically does everything he can to keep Vanessa from going to the fight, and she knows that, and she knows that there’s a potential that she’s going to get hurt. Why does she still go, do you think? ZURER: Oh, this connects to the arc of the whole, whole, whole show for her, even the Season 1 of the first show. She’s always been about truth and loyalty. That’s the theme of their relationship. If you go back, you’ll see that all the way. So, when we land in the second season, she’s in a place where all the truth was told, the loyalty was regained, and now life should be enough, but it’s not. She starts to have a really bad feeling that she’s been haunted, and the last thing she wants is something to happen to him. I believe that she’s taking steps in order to be able to protect herself, but mostly him from himself, even. So, when he tells her, “You’re not coming,” she’s like, “Good luck!” The way she says “good luck” is like, “Of course I will show up.” And she does, and she comes ready. She comes ready, I think, not only to fight back, but also, subconsciously, I believe she’s taking the bullet for him.

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You mentioned Vanessa being haunted. What was it like exploring that fear and then reaching that conclusion, where she does ultimately fall by Fisk’s hand inadvertently? What was it like playing out that storyline? ZURER: What’s interesting about the season in relation to Season 1 is that in Season 1, we deal a lot with truth and loyalty, and we found that balance back to love. That’s the triangle there. And then in Season 2, that triangle suddenly doesn’t work because there are questions about how much more do we need in order to be enough? When she realizes that nothing is going to be enough for him, including her, I think there’s a way it starts to sort of crack. She starts to crack in some ways, and that’s why the sensation of being haunted is starting to seep in. I think if she were in a different situation, this might not have been very effective, but now it is. So, everything that has been done is suddenly haunting her. The question is, again, is it enough? How do I protect what I have? And the only way to protect what I love is to fight it back. I think she’s determined to be there fighting back, and be the protector in some ways.
Zurer Reveals What She Won’t Miss About Playing Vanessa in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’

“The look is so essential to who she is as a person…”

Vincent D’Onofrio, Ayelet Zurer, and Matthew Lillard in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2Image via Disney+

What was your last day of filming like, especially, I’m assuming that your last scenes were with Vincent. What was it like, filming those moments? ZURER: [Episode] 5 was really built from all sorts of scenes that belong to the memory of their life together, the gallery, so they were mixed. But the last day of filming was the hospital. Maybe it was two days, actually, but it was the hospital. So, all this came into those scenes. I think they were edited more. Some parts were chopped, but it was very, very emotional for both of us. I have tons of pictures from that bed of everyone looking at me, and Vincent sitting there sad. I’ll post them at some point. It was sad. It was truly emotional. It’s been a long time. It’s been over 10 years of working together and friendship, and just really smooth sailing-type of work, so to say goodbye to that was really painful. But at the same time, I’m really appreciative of the way this tied the bow on Vanessa. The way she dies, the way she goes out. I love the beautiful scene where she goes, “Tell me that story.” I just really, really enjoyed it and thought it was really beautifully made. I thought that was very sweet. I love Vanessa as a character. I think she’s such a good balance, especially for Fisk. What will you miss the most about playing the character? ZURER: I’ll tell you what I won’t miss: I will not miss the high heels. I was going to say, “Is it the shoes?” [Laughs] ZURER: I am a girl who walks in flip flops and sports shoes, and those heels are killer.

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They’re really high heels, too. ZURER: They’re high as it gets. So, I will not miss that. I will miss our long chats with Emily [Gunshor] at the wardrobe sessions where we were discussing what we want to do, how we’re going to look, how to structure it, because the look is so essential to who she is as a person. I will miss Vincent tremendously, and I will miss the team. I really enjoyed working with Charlie [Cox] and Wilson [Bethel] and Margarita [Levieva]. Really, everybody, honestly. I’ll miss Hillary [Fyfe Spera], which I really like. I think she’s an amazing DP. And just New York. But I’m glad you don’t have to wear any more heels! Did you ever say, “Can we maybe do, like, a ballet flat for her today?” ZURER: Impossible. The whole walk would go. My whole structure, everything, would collapse without the shoes. It was so intense for me, and important to have high-heeled shoes, because without them, it’s just I don’t have her. Also, there were a lot of discussions at the beginning of Season 1 about pants, and I really refused to wear pants because I was like, “Vanessa is not a pants person. She’s not. She’s like a skirt and condensed energy.”

Her dresses are always great. And I love the color theory that is played into, especially when she’s next to Wilson, and their dynamics are playing off of each other. Her outfits are fantastic. So as painful as those shoes are, they have the desired effect. ZURER: The outfits I might miss. The red dress and the red coat. ZURER: I learned, really, how to dress just from that show, honestly.
Zurer’s Biggest Takeaway From ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Will Stay With Her Forever

“I think that’s what makes the show good, is we are really grounding them in real humanity.”

Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2Image via Disney+

Vanessa is such a strong character. What is the biggest takeaway you have after playing Vanessa for so many years that you’re going to take forward into your life or into your next job? ZURER: I don’t know if I learned something from her specifically, but I can say that it’s really interesting. It’s something to do with codependency in love, I think. Their relationship is so codependent that the ability to be singular, alone, is something that, in relationship to her, I’m questioning. Like, can I have that singularity? That’s the question. But it’s funny, it’s like when you’re acting someone, you sort of ride a wave of some sort, and that wave is about that, to be able to be alone, for her, is maybe something that relates to me also in a way. That is a very interesting way of looking at her character. ZURER: Yeah, I know. Maybe not to a T for Vanessa [in the] comics, but, hey, we are dealing with real people here, and I think that’s what makes the show good, is we are really grounding them in real humanity. New episodes of Daredevil: Born Again premiere every Tuesday on Disney+ in the U.S.

Release Date

March 4, 2025

Network

Disney+

Showrunner

Dario Scardapane

Directors

Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson, David Boyd, Jeffrey Nachmanoff

Writers

Jesse Wigutow, Jill Blankenship, Thomas Wong, David Feige, Grainne Godfree