In the season three finale of Daredevil, Matt Murdock decides not to kill The Kingpin and instead chooses to make a deal with him: if he goes back to prison and keeps his identity a secret, Matt will keep Vanessa out of prison for ordering the murder of an FBI agent.
During the closing few minutes, the Man Without Fear acknowledges that putting Wilson Fisk behind bars is only a temporary solution and during a recent interview, actor Charlie Cox shared his thoughts on whether he was satisfied with how the finale played out and what his thoughts are on Matt's decision to spare The Kingpin's life.
"I have mixed feelings, because as a fan of the show I would hate to not have Wilson Fisk, and indeed Vincent D'Onofrio, at our disposal for future seasons, were we to do any. But at the same time, he's been such a menace for three seasons that in many ways, we kind of had earned the right to dispose of him! From a storytelling point of view. So I had a lot of questions about that final scene between me and him, and I liked it from a story point of view. I like that Matt comes as close as he does, and hopefully you should feel like he's so unbelievably tortured by that decision, and that in a way in choosing to allow him to live, what he's really doing is allowing himself to continue living. He's giving himself a chance at redemption.
There was that little bit of me that, if I'm truly honest, was like "So wait, we've gone through all this and we're just sending him back to prison?" I even said to Erik at one point, "But we've learned that that doesn't work!" That was such a large conversation that I kind of insisted that we add a line in the scene at the very, very end with Foggy [Elden Henson] and Karen, where we do acknowledge that's not the ultimate answer. He’s back in prison, for now, and when that change."
After a dark start, the season ends with Matt alongside his friends Karen Page and Foggy Nelson and it definitely feels like the hero is now in a more hopeful place. Asked where he would like to see things go next for the character, Cox explained that he's not even sure if Daredevil's story will continue (something which probably shouldn't surprise us after Iron Fist and Luke Cage were cancelled).
"At this point, I don't know if there's any intention of us doing more seasons. But were that to be the case, I think there's an interesting challenge for the writers, because I don't think we can do another season where Matt is so isolated, so alone, and so broken and angry. I think in order to avoid being a broken record, we're going to have to find a Matt Murdock that at least initially has a slightly different attitude toward the people that he loves, and toward himself, and toward God. I think in season four, there needs to be at least one episode where he goes on holiday to the Caribbean, and the whole crew needs to migrate down there for two weeks, and the whole episode he just sits on a beach."
What did you guys think of the Daredevil finale? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.