'Daredevil' Actor Deborah Ann Woll Talks Karen Page's Progress and Bonding with Punisher

Published Mar 22, 2016

"Porn star? Excuse me?" Deborah Ann Woll is well aware of her Daredevil character's convoluted journey through comics mythology since she first appeared in Daredevil #1 in 1964 as secretary and love interest to lawyer Matt Murdoch/Daredevil (Charlie Cox). Heroin addiction, daytime soap opera star, pornographer and anti-porn activist — Karen Page has been through a lot, even death by Bullseye's hand in 1999."I don't know if that's the direction we're gonna go with Karen," Woll says about the latest iteration of the character in the ongoing Netflix series Daredevil. "In a way, because she was so many varied things throughout her different arcs in the books, she can be anything we want her to be."Who she is in this version is more traditional, at least for now — as season two begins, Page remains in place as secretary at law firm Nelson & Murdoch, pining for the love of her boss (whose secret she doesn't know) and ignoring the puppy dog eyes thrown her way by the other side of this triangle, Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson). For Woll — and to the chagrin of Poggy shippers — there isn't much triangle there. "My feeling is that Karen wants to be with Matt. For me, it goes back to that very first episode when they meet her in the interrogation room." (Page is attacked after uncovering a corporate conspiracy.) "Foggy says, 'You don't have the money, we can't represent you.' Matt says, 'I believe you, I support your cause, I'm going to do it.' From that moment, he would always be a hero in her eyes, whether she knows that he's Daredevil or not."For Woll, the darkness of Daredevil — full of night shoots and shadows — was very familiar after seven years on absurd HBO vampire drama True Blood, but she was keen to lighten up in season two. "I wanted to bring some lightness to Karen," she says. "Because it started with her life being threatened, discovering all this corruption, I thought even in this dark world, I wanted Karen to be able to make jokes and try to be the lightest version of what she could be to make up for that darkness."With the on-screen arrival of Elektra Natchios (Élodie Yung), Murdoch's romantic attentions are elsewhere for the most part in season two, opening Karen Page up to some interesting new relationships. "I think the most interesting pairing for me is Karen and Frank Castle," Woll says of the arrival of Punisher, played by Jon Bernthal, in season two. "I think it brings out aspects in each character that we wouldn't have thought were there — a bit more of a cold-hearted side to Karen and a bit of warmth, I think, from Frank. They end up being very similar in many ways."