DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN Season 2 Showrunner Teases Major Evolution for Karen Page
As Marvel fans are waiting for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 to be released, executive producer Dario Scardapane recently opened up about Karen Page’s role in the upcoming season, and the way he talks about her makes it clear she’s returning in a big and important way.
When Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again returns to Disney+, Matt Murdock will be staring down a nightmare scenario. Wilson Fisk is now Mayor of New York City, and that kind of power in Kingpin’s hands is terrifying. But Matt won’t be fighting alone. Karen Page is stepping back into the chaos, and according to Scardapane, that was always the right move.
Early in Season 1’s development, fans were frustrated to learn that Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen wouldn’t have a major presence. That decision changed once Scardapane stepped in during the creative overhaul. He told SFX Magazine:
“When I came into season one, and Karen was originally not a big part of the narrative – or no part of it at all – I was like, ‘Guys, guys, guys, we can’t do that!’ Karen’s got to be a part of this world for a lot of reasons, and we didn’t have as much of her as I would have liked in season one.”
And he’s right. Karen isn’t just window dressing in this world. In Season 1, we saw her grieving the brutal murder of Franklin “Foggy” Nelson and attending the trial of Benjamin Poindexter, the man responsible.
Living in San Francisco at the time, she eventually returns to New York to help Matt uncover legal evidence Foggy left behind that could finally help bring Fisk down.
Even with her limited screen time, she left an impact. Now it sounds like Season 2 is going to let her fully step into her power.
Scardapane also shared how he and Woll see Karen’s place in the story, and it’s exactly what longtime fans have been saying for years:
“In season two, the evolution of Karen Page feels so on path with everything that’s come before. In my mind – and in Debs’s mind – she’s never been a sidekick; she’s never been a girlfriend. She’s always been somebody who both mirrors and pushes Murdock – not always in the best way.”
That’s the Karen Page we know. She challenges Matt. She calls him out. She makes choices that complicate everything.
She’s grown from secretary to journalist to someone with serious legal knowledge, and now she’s a lawyer in her own right. She’s Matt’s equal in ways that matter, and their dynamic works because she doesn’t just support him. She confronts him.
What really has me curious, though, is how Season 2 is going to evolve her. Scardapane teased that they’ve taken her somewhere new:
“This version of Karen Page is a blast. It’s a curveball that you haven’t seen before. The great thing is we got to talk to her about it in season one, before we started getting into the real nitty-gritty of season two.
“Her input adds to what we do in the writers’ room and by the time you come out at the end you’re like, ‘Whoa, this actually makes sense!’ I think fans are really going to dig this Karen Page.
'“The events of Mayor Fisk’s rise prompt people to take sides, and some of them have to take sides pretty vigorously.”
Season 2 promo photos have already teased Karen’s return, and it looks like she’ll be deep in the fight against Mayor Fisk. New York is choosing sides, and it sounds like Karen is choosing hers without hesitation.
There’s also the possibility of her crossing paths with Jessica Jones again. If Krysten Ritter’s return plays out the way fans hope, seeing Karen and Jessica share the screen in this new political war against Fisk could be something cool and interesting.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 premieres March 24, and between Matt’s escalating battle with Kingpin and Karen stepping into a more central role, the stakes feel higher than ever.
If Scardapane follows through on what he’s teasing, Karen Page is about to shake things up in a way that could redefine her place in the MCU.