Ayelet Zurer Charts a New Path for Vanessa Fisk in 'Daredevil: Born Again'

When Vanessa brought a gun to their first date, Wilson Fisk knew he’d met his match. From her introduction as a gallery owner to her stint running New York City’s criminal underworld, Vanessa has managed to surprise her husband with every step along the journey of their romance. However, after she ordered Benjamin Poindexter to kill Foggy Nelson, Vanessa’s capacity to match Wilson’s nefariousness came back to haunt them both—and now their lives are on the line.

Speaking to Marvel.com, Marvel Studios' Daredevil: Born Again star Ayelet Zurer reflected on Vanessa’s story so far. She embraced Vanessa’s newfound agency in running the New York City underworld and broke down the source of her hurt and mistrust. She also explored Vanessa’s ability to handle the people around her, shared her own personal heartbreak over Foggy’s death, recalled some of her favorite moments from filming with Wilson actor Vincent D’Onofrio, and so much more.

MARVEL.COM: How did you react when you got the call that you were coming back as Vanessa?

AYELET ZURER: I was so excited and so happy, truly. I got three calls: I got a call from Sana [Amanat], the producer, and I got a call from Dario [Scardapane], the [showrunner]. But I did get a call from Vincent [D'Onofrio] and that was the best call. He hinted that it's coming my way, because he knows me; I don't handle surprises so well. [laughs] So he did, and that was really lovely. I was very excited.

MARVEL.COM: What did Daredevil: Born Again give you the chance to do with Vanessa that perhaps you hadn’t had the opportunity to in the original series?

AYELET ZURER: She had her own agency. Until now, she represented [Wilson Fisk's] world; she was serving his storyline. She was really interesting from the beginning. There's something very poetic about her and always was, but in Born Again, she's a mature woman. She's older, she's smarter; she knows which she wants. 

She's also hurt in a way that we didn't see before. I mean, she's deeply hurt. When we start the show, she's steaming on the inside. [laughs] There's a lot of trust to gain from both sides and it's just really interesting.

MARVEL.COM: Daredevil: Born Again shows us a more independent Vanessa. How would you say her time away from Fisk changed her—for better or for worse?

AYELET ZURER: Well, she had to protect the business in order to save them... she doesn't handle things with violence. She handles things with money. She understands that if people want something, they have a price for it. If they're willing to pay, then there will be peace. 

So she knows how to create peace in the business world. She does that in order to protect herself—and him, in a way. Power, for her, means safety... while I think maybe for him, power is love. That clashes in a way.

MARVEL.COM: This season alters the dynamic of Vanessa and Fisk’s relationship a little bit, with Vanessa exerting more control and making more calls. How did that impact the way you play off of Vincent D’Onofrio?

AYELET ZURER: There's a lot of baggage to come into. There's a lot of mistrust. One of the themes in the show is trust—and also, of course, fighting your true nature. What is your true nature? So her true nature is love, a capability to love deeply and also to see him in a way that nobody else does. I guess it's the same for him, but now there's also depth of betrayal and hurt, which needs to be solved in a way. That is part of the journey, the filling in and putting back trust. 

But me and Vincent, for example, as actors, we do have trust, but we also have personal lives, so you can bring a lot of stuff into it. It's always, for me, very interesting to see what he does because it's never not personal. Everything he brings in is real.

MARVEL.COM: You’ve worked with Vincent D’Onofrio for a while now. What’s something about working with Vincent that fans might be surprised to know?

AYELET ZURER: We don't discuss scenes so much. I don't know what it is, but I feel like we understand each other in a way that doesn't need to be chatted about too much. We both like to be surprised in a away, but also there's a lot of respect. If something doesn't work, then we'll discuss, but mostly it works, so we just let it be, this weird thing. We lay it out and let it be.

MARVEL.COM: The couples counseling scenes between Wilson and Vanessa are particularly great. What do you remember most about filming those scenes?

AYELET ZURER: I really appreciated that Vanessa had a personal life she can talk about and had a very specific point of view. It wasn't just him saying, "Oh, she did this," but she was saying, "You did that." There was a real clash. It wasn't just telling the story from his perspective; it was really mutual. So that was really fun. 

But the most fun thing about it was saying a lot, but not saying much. They're not really built to wash their dirty laundry in front of anybody. So saying it without saying it was the most fun and funny.

MARVEL.COM: A major point of contention for Vanessa hangs on Adam, her extramarital fling. Knowing what she knows about Fisk, do you believe there was ever a part of her that suspected the truth about Adam’s whereabouts?

AYELET ZURER: Oh yeah. There's a take where Heather is asking, "And what happened to Adam?" and the camera is on [Fisk]. You can see Vanessa turning to look but you don't see her face because it's really [focusing on] him and she's sort of out of focus. If she wasn't out of focus, there'd be a sense of, "And? Yes, and...?" I think she challenges him.

MARVEL.COM: Later in the season, we learn that Vanessa was responsible for Foggy’s death. Tell me a little about your own, personal reaction to that revelation.

AYELET ZURER: I did not put it in my head until I needed to, because I was just like, "No! Such a bad, bad choice!" [laughs] You know, because it comes with consequences, obviously, in a show like that. However, I do love the scene—the Vanessa and Poindexter scene. This was a fun day. So I didn't put it in my head—I pretended it's not happening until I needed to deal with it. 

But then I saw the show and I saw how it happens and how it's been shot, and I was like, "Ugh!" It's such a heartbreak, because he's such loved character and such the good reflection of our hero, our Daredevil, that it was not good.

MARVEL.COM: What you think it means for Vanessa as a character?

AYELET ZURER: She does bring a gun to the first date with Wilson! You know when you see a gun at some point in the first act, somebody is going to use it. So I should have known.

MARVEL.COM: What is one of your favorite dynamics between Vanessa and another character (aside from Wilson Fisk, of course)?

AYELET ZURER: Vanessa is really interesting in the sense that she matches what's in front of her, the energy in front her. She knows how to match it in a way. So she understands something deeper about the person and she knows how handle them. 

So Luca, for example, would be one way to challenge another person and a man in a circumstance like that, but also Heather would be another way to handle herself and how she's handling other women. Then, of course, there's other characters—Poindexter and so on—and with each one, she has a technique. The technique is similar and different. So I like that about her.

MARVEL.COM: What is one of your favorite memories or moments from working in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole?

AYELET ZURER: I remember when the show was canceled on Netflix and, immediately after, there was a humongous sign in Manhattan in Times Square: "Save Daredevil." I think I was in shock because I never realized how much power fans have—and they do! If they love something, then they show the love. I think the show right now is really successful because of the people who waited for it and wanted to see it. And of course, it's bringing in new audiences and I know now that people are going back to watch the first three episodes from a time ago, but it really is incredible.

What we do as actors eventually is not for us. I mean, I don't want to act in my shower! I don't do it for me; I do it for the audience. So if there's a response and a reaction, it actually really charges me with energy and joy and I'm really excited about people seeing Vanessa, for example, having all these discussions and having something to say because I care about her. She's wild, but I care.

MARVEL.COM: Vincent has a very particular way of enunciating Vanessa’s name when he’s in character as Fisk, which has delighted fans since the first season of Daredevil. Has that ever come up in your interactions with fans?

AYELET ZURER: I was in a coffee shop in New York, and I usually don't wear makeup and I have glasses on and I look like a woman in sweatpants or whatever. But that day, somehow, he recognized me, this guy, and he came to me and he didn't say, "Daredevil?" or anything like that—he just said, [Vincent D'Onofrio impression] "Vanessa." I ordered coffee and then he said Vanessa and I was like so freaked out. [laughs] It really just was so odd! So that was one experience that I had and that's it for "Vanessa." I mean, I do get some nice things about the show.

New episodes of Daredevil: Born Again stream every Tuesday at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET on Disney+.