Daredevil Season 3 Release Date, Cast, Trailer, News, Villain, and Story

Daredevil Season 3 was officially confirmed back in 2016, not that there was really much doubt that this was going to happen. This time around, though, we’ll have a brand new showrunner and executive producer, with Erik Oleson (Man in the High Castle) taking over from Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez.

Here’s everything we know so far about Daredevil Season 3! Just be warned, there are spoilers involved if you haven’t watched The Defenders yet.

Daredevil Season 3 Photos

Just a day after Netflix announced the Daredevil Season 3 release date, a pair of new photos arrived (via EW), showing a bit more of the upcoming outing. While one photo shows our newly-disillusioned Daredevil in a typical setting, catching a high viewpoint of Hell’s Kitchen from atop a church rooftop, the other provides a glimpse of a something that we’ve been waiting to see: the look of utter shock on Foggy’s face upon learning that his best friend, Matt Murdock, is alive!

As new showrunner Erik Oleson states of the Matt/Foggy reunion:

“Foggy has been trying to move on from Matt’s memory, or at least move on with his life. If you thought one of your close friends was dead and he decided not to tell you he survived, you would probably have some issues with that.”

Oleson also drops details about the new characters in Matt’s life. There’s the “tough, Hell’s Kitchen-born-and-bred nun,” Sister Maggie (Joanne Whalley), FBI Agent Ray (Jay Ali), who he says “carries the heart of the season,” and an unnamed character played by Wilson Bethel, described as “a psychologically tortured FBI sharpshooter” who “could teeter towards good or towards evil, depending on who is manipulating or inspiring him.”

However, as we already knew, Vincent D’Onofrio is returning to the series for another proper run as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, a character he played spectacularly in Season 1, with a cameo in Season 2. As Olefson explains of the evolution of Fisk:

“Fisk has gotten smarter, more calculated, and more manipulative. I very much wanted to tell a story that’s relevant to the world around us. I looked at the show as a way to examine how tyrants manipulate in order to push their own agenda and cause fear and distrust.”

Yet, as we saw in the recent teaser trailer, Fisk will be tangling with a version of Daredevil who’s undergone his own ideological evolution as a vigilante. Indeed, Oleson states of the Catholic costumed crusader’s mindset:

“He’s angry at God, he’s angry at the fact that he had risked his life to do God’s work, and he’s questioning whether or not he was a fool.”

Daredevil Season 3 Release Date

Netflix has confirmed that Daredevil Season 3 will premiere on October 19. – Less than a month away!

Netflix released the long-awaited news in an official video (seen below) that announces the date and serves as a quasi-trailer, teasing the first bit of footage… which is dark, even for Daredevil standards.

Daredevil Season 3 Trailer

Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) will arrive on Daredevil Season 3 as a man who’s believed to have perished in grandiose sacrificial fashion during the culminating moments of last year’s crossover event, The Defenders, after an entire building collapsed on him. Yet, the notion of his survival isn’t exactly a brazen spoiler, since it was confirmed at the end of the episode itself with the image of Matt lying beaten and unconscious in bed, tended to by a nun.

However, a scene at the end of the recently-released Iron Fist Season 2 reveals that a once-again-conscious Matt is secretly up and has gone back to his crime-fighting roots in his original black costume, wielding a merciless modus operandi stating, “I’d rather die as the Devil than live as Matt Murdock.” Consequently, Daredevil Season 3 will center on Matt’s post-building-falling-on-him disillusionment and his abandonment of the once-esteemed ideals that was at the center of his morality clashes with fellow vigilante Frank Castle/Punisher back in Season 2. Daredevil has clearly gone full Punisher, which should raise some eyebrows, especially from his friends (who still believe he’s dead,) Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and maybe even his former cohorts in The Defenders.

Indeed, the new clip, showing a bloodied Matt, brandishes a murky, Frank Miller-esque monologue that states, “You can suffocate evil, starve it, lock it behind bars, but it will find a way to come back even stronger. There’s only one true way to end the evil, to finish it for good. Let the Devil out.”

Of course, Marvel was already teasing Matt Murdock’s return…

Are there clues to the release date hidden in this braille mass card?

While the selection from Proverbs certainly applies to Matt Murdock in general, we’re always looking for significance in numbers.

Daredevil Season 3 Cast

Expect everyone who survived season two to return for a third season. Maybe we’ll get some guest slots from Mike Colter as Luke Cage or Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones or Jon Bernthal as the Punisher. There’s some other big news, though.

Wilson Bethel (Hart of Dixie) has been cast as a series regular in Daredevil Season 3, according to Variety. While the exact identity of the role is being kept under wraps, we do know Bethel will play an FBI agent with “a critical role in the conflict between Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk.” 

Joanne Whaley (Wolf Hall) has been cast as the mysterious “Sister Maggie” who has been alluded to more than once between seasons of Daredevil and The Defenders. Sister Maggie is “a strong-willed nun who speaks her mind and cares deeply about Matt’s safety.”

“We are big fans of Joanne’s work and are fortunate that someone of her caliber will be joining our already talented family,” said Daredevil EP Jeph Loeb in a statement. “Joanne is a rare talent and a terrific creative collaborator,” declared Oleson. “Watching her bring her role to life has the writers all pinching ourselves.”

But the arrival of Sister Maggie all but confirms our suspicions about what shape the season will take. See, Sister Maggie has a deep connection to Matt Murdock as well. Wait, I may have said too much.

Jay Ali will play Rahul “Ray” Nadeem, “an honest, but ambitious FBI agent willing to go to any length for his family.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Jay into our stellar cast,” said Jeph Loeb, Executive Producer and Marvel’s Head of Television in a statement. “His storyline and riveting performance will captivate our fans in the third season of Marvel’s Daredevil.”

Daredevil Season 3 Villain

The biggest news is that Vincent D’Onofrio will return as Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk.

“Vincent is an exceptional actor who returns with the incredible gravitas he brings to Fisk,” said executive producer, Jeph Loeb, in a statement. “We’re very excited how Marvel’s Daredevil develops through the creative lens and guidance of our new showrunner, Erik Oleson.”

In addition to the Kingpin, they have to give us Bullseye this time around, right? They’ve made us wait long enough. Charlie Cox hinted to ScreenRant last year about the character. “I can’t imagine doing a run of Daredevil where Bullseye doesn’t show up at some point,” Cox said. 

It seems possible that Wilson Bethel is this season’s Bullseye. We have more details on that right here.

Daredevil Season 3 Story

So what does the ending of The Defenders mean for Daredevil Season 3? Quite a bit. For one thing, Matt’s going to have a much harder time trying to keep his identity secret since he disappeared at the same time as Daredevil.

But more importantly, the introduction of the mysterious Sister Maggie would seem to be the first seed planted for the show to eventually reach what should be its natural crescendo: the classic Frank Miller/David Mazzucchelli story, Born Again. We don’t necessarily think it’s going to be a direct adaptation for this season, though.

Charlie Cox agrees. “I know we don’t tend to follow any story blueprints too closely, because if you do, then you become a foregone conclusion,” he told THR. “There may be elements from Born Again, but I’m sure there will be elements that are unfamiliar and surprising and different in order for the show to be compelling to fans who know the comics very well. If we start making Born Again page-for-page, then the people who have read it and loved it — the hardcore fans — they won’t have too much drama.”

“We made a deal, before the first season, that I could come in and out of the show,” Vincent D’Onofrio told Collider. “It’s still very emotional. The character is evolving. His whole deal is based on emotion, so we’re taking him down that role further.”

The actor went on to tease that “There’s some awesome things that are very much in the history of Fisk and Daredevil, that people have been waiting for. We’ve already put some of that stuff in the can, and there’s a lot more to do.”

We’ll update this with more official information as we get it!

Mike Cecchini is the Editor in Chief of Den of Geek. You can read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @wayoutstuff.

Joseph Baxter is a contributor for Den of Geek and Syfy Wire. You can find his work here. Follow him on Twitter @josbaxter.