One of the biggest TV shocks of 2018 wasn't so much an on-screen incident as it was a behind-the-scenes jaw-dropper. Despite its apparent popularity, Netflix's Marvel drama Daredevil was unceremoniously cancelled just over a month after Season 3 debuted to rave reviews. While no official word has yet surfaced about what the in-the-works fourth season would have covered, but star Charlie Cox was apparently given a heads-up. In his words:
They'd had a preliminary conversation with me about what might happen and who might be involved or what the story might be. That was exciting me and what I heard was very exciting. So I had a vague sense of what the show might be. I had some idea.
I guess if anyone beyond the central creative team was going to get tipped off about what Daredevil Season 4 was planned to give fans, it would be the guy most comfortable inside the Man Without Fear's signature suit. Not that Matt Murdock was the character who was actually wearing the Daredevil suit in Season 3.
No, that was Wilson Bethel's Dex Poindexter, the rogue FBI agent that becomes a goon within Wilson Fisk's weblike criminal organization. Charlie Cox would have been excited to see Dex fully embracing his villainous persona in Season 4. Here's how the actor put it to Inverse.
I was looking forward to Wilson Bethel kind of getting to inhabit the character of Bullseye. Season 3 was kind of an origin story for the character and how Agent Poindexter becomes that character. So I was looking forward to having a season where he really embodies the Bullseye persona and what that dynamic would be between Bullseye and Daredevil.
Charlie Cox definitely isn't alone in having that particular idealized Season 4 thrust. As it's gone in past seasons of Marvel's Netflix series, Dex doesn't ever actually adopt his more comic-ready nickname. So while viewers watched him perform somewhat miraculous feats of aiming and precision, no one was blithely throwing the Bullseye moniker around in Season 3.
In no certain words did Charlie Cox say that Daredevil would have adopted the title Bullseye for a potential Season 4, but he didn't tiptoe around it, either. Wilson Fisk went three seasons with only minimal "Kingpin" references in general, while Matt Murdock's vigilante was more regularly pegged as the "Devil of Hell's Kitchen" as opposed to being called Daredevil with any regularity. Hell, even The Punisher gives Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle a distaste for his own media-sourced nickname.
Unfortunately, Charlie Cox did not provide any further details about what Season 3 showrunner Erik Oleson and the writing team had been planning to tackle with Season 4. We're not sure how Dex would escape back into the world as Bullseye, nor how the character would feel about putting on another skintight costume to promote his own law-thwarting threat. He did look extremely comfortable wearing Daredevil's duds, though, so he'd probably be all over that side of it.
Of course, Daredevil had more plotlines going for it in Season 3 than just super-accurate monsters. Matt's rehabilitative journey put him back in contact with his long-lost mother Maggie, and it reshaped his state of mind about vigilantism, religion and how far he'd be willing to go to keep Hell's Kitchen safe. Could it have been the season where he legitimately killed Kingpin off? We may sadly never know.
Netflix clearly isn't going to renege on its cancellation decision for Daredevil, which means it's next to impossible for Season 4 to happen with all of the same cast and crew members.There's a mandated two-year wait before other studios or networks can use any of Netflix's central Defenders heroes, so even if the cards line up in favor of Charlie Cox returning to the role, it wouldn't be seen until 2021 at the earliest.
That said, Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio are standing behind the recent fan-originated petition set up to #SaveDaredevil from its current cancelled status. Here's hoping something more positive than "absolutely nothing" happens on that front, to give fans hopes of watching Daredevil and Bullseye go head to head once more.
Daredevil's first three seasons are currently available to stream on Netflix, as is The Punisher Season 2. While waiting to hear about what's happening next with all these Marvel heroes and villains, head to our 2019 Netflix schedule and our midseason premiere schedule to check out all the cool shows debuting soon.
