'Daredevil: Born Again' Episode 7: Michael Gandolfini explains his character's alternate fate
'Daredevil: Born Again' took a dark turn in the final moments of Episode 7, which aired on April 28 on Disney+. The latest episode ended with the brutal murder of the deputy mayor, Daniel Blake (Michael Gandolfini), at the hands of his good friend, Buck Cashman (Arty Froushan). Titled 'The Hateful Darkness,' the episode is directed by Iain B. MacDonald and written by Heather Bellson. After Daniel tells Buck that the journalist BB Urich (Genneya Walton) has been leaking information against Mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) to the public, the mayor's fixer decides to take her out. Daniel is forced to choose between his love for BB and his loyalty to Fisk and his corrupt regime. He eventually chooses to protect BB, and Buck shoots him dead for his betrayal. However, Daniel came close to surviving the fatal encounter, as per the actor.
Following the episode's release, the 26-year-old Gandolfini told Inverse that his character had initially survived at the end of the episode and his story arc was supposed to continue in Season 3. "I shot Episode 8. He lived. I didn’t know he was going to die until the show was over." However, the actor was unsure of Daniel's path forward after his fallout with Buck and Fisk. "When we were in Episode 7, there was this feeling of, 'Where’s Daniel going to go? What’s he going to do?' It just felt really weird. The whole time I was just like, 'This feels wrong,'" he shared. Gandolfini added that his character is "not going to go to Daredevil," leaving him with very little to do in the next season's plot.
Moreover, the showrunner, Dario Scardapane, reached the same conclusion while finalizing the scripts for Season 3 and decided to alter Daniel's fate to give him an appropriate send-off. Hence, they changed Daniel's ending during the post-production of Season 2 by adding a gunshot to Buck and Daniel's final scene with CGI. Moreover, fans do not have to wonder about the alternate ending as Scardapane revealed his initial plan for the young politician to Variety. He said that after the close call, Daniel resigned from his post, but "the new interim mayor is like, 'I'm not taking your resignation. I’m going to keep you close because I don’t trust you.'" Nevertheless, Gandolfini seems pleased with the show's ending, "I think it’s so right," he said, before adding, "I was really grateful that they gave Daniel such a respectful goodbye."
Daniel has been a morally ambiguous character since Season 1 of 'Daredevil: Born Again,' when he cozied up to Fisk and turned a blind eye to his blatant corruption to advance his career. His loyalty is rewarded when Fisk appoints him the Deputy Mayor of Communications, pulling him deeper into the Kingpin's criminal orbit. In April 2025, Gandolfini reflected on his character's arc while speaking to Inverse. "You can sort of see him digging his own grave," he said before questioning, "How deep is he going to get?" Well, we now have the answer.
Despite his grim fate, Gandolfini is grateful for the experience of portraying the grey character for 15 episodes in the hit drama series. "I did really like him. Dario and [producer] Sana [Amanat] and the whole Marvel team really gave Daniel quite a lovely and amazing arc. I really get to hold space in this season, and that is really rare and really cool," he said. Make sure to watch the finale of 'Daredevil: Born Again' Season 2 next Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT only on Disney+.
