Ayelet Zurer Reclaims Vanessa Fisk For 'Daredevil: Born Again'
The character was originally recast with another actress before the overhaul
Another wrong has been righted thanks to the creative overhaul of Marvel Studios’s Daredevil: Born Again, bringing the Disney+ series ever closer to being the continuation of the beloved Netflix series it was supposed to in the first place. Ayelet Zurer was spotted on set during filming, confirming she will be reprising her role as Kingpin’s wife Vanessa Fisk, having been a series regular in the first season and a guest star in the third.
The spotting was originally shared on Steve Sands’s Instagram Stories and made its way to Daniel Richtman aka DanielRPK who proceeded to tweet it. In December 2022, when the series was still apparently looser with its continuity, Sandrine Holt was cast in the role opposite Vincent D’Onofrio as Kingpin, though it wasn’t identified until March 2023. At the time, in Zurer’s own Instagram Stories, she expressed she was "Sad to not take part," continuing "But I will always be [Vincent D'Onofrio's] biggest fan." In transforming the series starring Charlie Cox as the blind lawyer vigilante Matt Murdock aka Daredevil with the creative overhaul, Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll have also been brought back as their beloved Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. Wilson Bethel is reprising his role as Benjamin Poindexter aka Bullseye for three episodes, and Jon Bernthal (who has been very share-happy from filming) returning as Frank Castle aka the Punisher was maintained from the previous version.
In fact, it seems that the full 18-episode order will be fulfilled. No cuts necessary. However, it’s looking like the 18 will be split into two seasons of 9 episodes. Filming has wrapped to some extent but it’s unclear if it’s all 18 or just the first 9. It seems of new cast, Margarita Levieva, Michael Gandolfini, Genneya Walton, Nikki M. James, and Clark Johnson have all been retained at the very least. However, there’s at least one more name that’s been added to the cast, though the part he will play is unknown.
It’s Lou Taylor Pucci, probably best known for the Apple TV+ series Physical. He played Tyler, a surfer dude who ran an aerobics studio with his wife in the series’s 1980s setting. Pucci was a series regular for the first two seasons and a guest in the third and final. His film credits include the 2013 Evil Dead and Fan Boys, while elsewhere in TV he’s been in American Horror Story, Shameless, You’re the Worst and Netflix’s You, a series on which Zurer recurred in its third season. In the years since Daredevil ended, the Israeli actress’s most notable TV role was on the notoriously-unrenewed AMC+ series Moonhaven, with a couple of Law & Order: Organized Crime episodes along the way. Having started out in Israeli entertainment, her first major Hollywood film role was in Munich in 2005, subsequently appearing in Angels & Demons, the Ben-Hur remake, and as Superman’s mother Lara Lor-Van in Man of Steel. Daredevil: Born Again is expected to premiere in 2025.
