'Daredevil: Born Again': Margarita Levieva Breaks Down Heather Glenn's Deadly Decision

Now that Dr. Heather Glenn has become part of Daredevil’s world, her life will never be the same. Since her meet cute with Matt Murdock at the start of Marvel Studios’ Daredevil: Born Again, the therapist has sunk deeper and deeper into his life—oftentimes without even meaning to. From her couples therapy sessions with the Fisks to her violent encounter with Muse, Heather looked villainy in the eye and emerged a changed person, with an intimate new understanding of what it means to be a vigilante. 

Speaking to Marvel.com, Daredevil: Born Again star Margarita Levieva reflected on Heather’s unique place in the Marvel Universe. She explored Heather’s fascination with the Fisks, as well as her attraction to Matt Murdock and vigilantes in general. She also broke down Heather’s terrifying confrontation with Muse, shared some of her favorite moments from filming in New York City, discussed the show’s fun but heartbreaking brutality, and so much more.

MARVEL.COM: Take us back to when you first joined the cast: What was it about Heather Glenn that most intrigued you? 

MARGARITA LEVIEVA: I love that Heather is a doctor. I love that she's really smart and very strong and very accomplished in her own right. When I was first pitched the character and told I'd basically be Daredevil's love interest, but then also Fisk's couples therapist, that was pretty exciting. Couples therapy alone has always been exciting to explore. There were just so many elements of the story that really intrigued me and excited me.

MARVEL.COM: As I’m sure you know, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is one long, continuous piece of storytelling. What was your familiarity with the MCU before you joined the project?

MARGARITA LEVIEVA: I've certainly watched many movies and shows over the years, and I've always been a fan. I love the world. I, personally, am a dancer, and I actually love stunts and I love doing stunts. [laughs] When they first told me about the character, I was like, "Of course she's going to be fighting people!" So when I heard it was a doctor, I was actually really surprised. I was like, "Wait, but she's a doctor that fights, right?" Because I love to do that.

The universe is just so rich and the storylines are so full. This is not necessarily Heather’s storyline the first season, but I personally love playing villains... I always believe someone is justified in the moment of action, and that moment always fascinated me when it came to humans and playing complicated humans that might be viewed as villainous or wrong or negative by society. I feel like Marvel does such an excellent job of exploring characters that are very problematic and yet also hold so much pain and history and justification. To me, that's always fascinating.

Then, of course, there's the aspect that it's just so fun. It's just such a huge playground of fun characters.

MARVEL.COM: Charlie Cox has played this character for about a decade now. What’s something about working with him that people might be surprised to learn?

MARGARITA LEVIEVA: I don't think they'll be surprised to learn this. I just need to say he is the nicest human being on the planet... I've worked with some really nice people before, but you get a job and you're working opposite the lead of the show. He called me before we started shooting and was just so welcoming and so open for conversation, questions, just really wanted to make sure that I felt seen and heard and valued as a coworker and a co-creator and that was really special. It's not something that happens oftentimes, and that was really special.

He says he's a bad dancer, but I actually think he's quite a good dancer. I gave him a funny book at the end of shooting called Giraffes Can’t Dance. It's about Gerald the Giraffe, who thinks he can't dance. He's made fun of for not dancing until he meets an animal who teaches him that, if he finds a song that moves him, he can dance, and Gerald ends up dancing really well. So I was like, "Charlie, you're Gerald!"

MARVEL.COM: For much of the season, Heather really flirts with Daredevil’s world without fully crossing over into it. Do you believe there was ever a part of her that knew or at least suspected the truth?

MARGARITA LEVIEVA: For sure. Subliminally, subconsciously, I think there's a part of Heather that is attracted to—danger sounds like a dramatic word, but yeah, some sort of danger, some sort of excitement, some sort of quality that is not quite on the nose and is not quite like one-dimensional. I don't know if she full-on knows—if she can stand in court and say, "Matt Murdock is Daredevil"—but there is definitely a part of Heather. Whatever character Matt Murdock embodies as Daredevil, I think Heather is attracted to without admitting it or full on even knowing it. I think if she was to be interviewed, she'd be like, "I think those type of guys are hot."

I think there's a part of her that's drawn to that kind of an unavailability, too. That's something I really thought a lot about with this character, because she has such a strong front and she is so invested in helping others.

Going back to that conversation about Marvel and complicated beings, I think there's always something interesting about people that invest so much of themselves to save others, and what is it that they're really hiding from and running from within themselves. I thought about that a lot when it comes to her. So that part of her would definitely be attracted to Daredevil.

MARVEL.COM: Heather really helps us, as an audience, suss out the challenges in Fisk and Vanessa’s relationship. How did your role in this help you better understand your character and her place in this world?

MARGARITA LEVIEVA: Especially when we approached the therapy sessions, I really viewed Heather—and part of what makes her an excellent therapist—as a space holder. I was like, "I'm just going to hold this space and allow these people to just reveal themselves and come into themselves." That comes obviously from active listening and deep presence, which I try to do as much as possible for them.

As far as their dynamic and what it did for Heather, I think—and I know in the decisions that I made for myself—Heather's really attracted to that power and that deep of feeling. The love between the Fisks, as complicated and as convoluted as it is, it's real. They really, really love each other, in my opinion, in Heather's opinion. She's not a fool; she understands that some of the things that they're talking about are not-so-on-the-nose and there's deeper meaning to what they're saying, but she really senses the merge and the pull between these two.

I think she also really respects the power positions that they hold in their lives—Vanessa, especially, having to be the woman next to, behind, sometimes in front of that kind of man is not easy and she really holds her own. So I think she respects them deeply, the Fisks.

MARVEL.COM: In episode 7, there’s an intense scene where Muse breaks into Heather’s office, and a fight ensues. What do you remember most about filming that sequence?

MARGARITA LEVIEVA: The thing I remember most is we really shot at like a dance... It was quite complicated. It was very long. There's actually a lot more of the scene than ended up on screen... but it was the revelation and Heather's coming to an understanding [with] what she's dealing with, who she's dealing with, what's about to happen to her. All of that was so beautifully explored on the page, so we just really wanted to make sure.

It goes from zero to like a thousand, but it doesn't go there right away. It's a slow burn. Hunter Doohan is just such a wonderful, wonderful actor to work opposite and gives so much. So we were genuinely surprised by how real it felt. That was one of the things that I was always after, especially in the therapy scenes, of knowing my lines and then just throwing it all away and being open to the moment. We really went for it and it was quite terrifying. And then the ability to fight back, of course, was exciting because I was like, "She's not going to go down that easy! She's got to give it back." So it was fun to choreograph the fight sequence as well. 

MARVEL.COM: How did Hunter Doohan help you really bring out the tension in those scenes?

MARGARITA LEVIEVA: He was terrifying. He has such an extraordinary ability to blend this deep, deep, deep, terrifying vulnerability. There was a quake in him, in his face, that was like, "I see the emotion, but I also feel the bubbling of something really evil and something terrifying inside." I felt that just watching him, listening to him, taking him in. He was giving me all of that.

It wasn't one of those scenes where I was like, "Okay, and now I'm going to start crying because that's upsetting, or now I'm going to get really upset." It was like, "No, now I'm going to really listen and observe this person," and everything that he was giving me was just—he gave me so much to work with and play with.

As I said, it felt very real. I felt like I was with a person who was really suffering, and I think that's—to me—always the scariest. It's the suffering that leads to extreme violence sometimes. So to watch him in that place was very effective.

MARVEL.COM: Tell me a little about that deadly moment and what you think her decision means for her as a character.

MARGARITA LEVIEVA: It changes her life forever. I think it really changes her. That's the beautiful thing about Marvel and [showrunner] Dario [Scardapane] and his writing and just the opportunity to go where she goes. Oftentimes, you get a job and you play a character and that's the character, so to be faced with such an event that really just—basically, the way that I see it, and certainly moving forward past that day, is nothing will ever be the same. Heather will never be the same. So it's pretty traumatic. 

MARVEL.COM: As I understand it, you grew up in and around New York City yourself. What was it like for you to explore the city in a series so very dedicated to this setting?

MARGARITA LEVIEVA: One of the most beautiful things about New York is you can walk down the same block for 30 years and see something different every time. I love shooting in New York, and shooting this show, particularly, in New York was so fun.

Fun fact—and I can only say this because I'm moving from there—but Dr. Glenn's apartment in the show was two buildings down from my actual apartment. [laughs] So shooting this scene when he walks me home and kisses me goodnight with my neighbors walking their dog and being like, "Hey, Margarita!" was pretty funny.

But also walking my neighborhood streets under the lens of a camera and with that smoke and beautiful light is just—I will always be romantic when it comes to New York. I love the city, but then also under that effect, you just understand why people want to shoot in New York. Every little nook and cranny, street, little corner is just so cinematic.

And then shooting in Williamsburg! I remember, when we first started shooting, we had to do some photographs for our apartment photos and Charlie and I were walking through McCarren Park, and they were just snapping little natural photos of us, and it was just so fun. I was like, "We get to do this in our city and it's so rich." It just automatically adds such an incredible element.

MARVEL.COM: What was the biggest surprise or thing you weren’t expecting about joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

MARGARITA LEVIEVA: Just how many characters come in and how fully fleshed out they are—especially when it comes to the women! It's been such a gift to have so many complicated, powerful, strong, driven-by-their-own-storylines women. Usually, somebody ends up paying the price in a show this rich and character-filled, and the fact that everyone has a storyline that is so not only complicated, but fascinating to watch and explore was, for me as an actor and as a person, really surprising, like just how much there was accomplished.

With this season, I was really surprised in the most pleasant way with the violence that we've been able to explore, because first signing on, I was like, "I don't know if this is going to be PG or what rating we're going for," and the show is brutal in a way that is heartbreaking and also fun. 

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