Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, Netflix, TV | Tagged: daredevil, daredevil: born again

Daredevil Showrunner: Woll's Karen Page Audition Was "One of the Best"

Netflix's Daredevil showrunner Steven DeKnight reflects on Deborah Ann Woll's original 2015 audition for Karen Page that blew him away.

When Daredevil premiered on Netflix in 2015, the only other live-action incarnations of The Man Without Fear were Rex Smith in the 1989 TV movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk and the Ben Affleck-starring 2003 Daredevil film for 20th Century Fox. With the Drew Goddard-created series, he cast Charlie Cox as the titular hero and his later ego, Matt Murdock, and with Vincent D'Onofrio as his villainous counterpart, Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, there were still two invaluable pieces to cast that would be part of that core: Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. While the Mark Steven Johnson film cast Jon Favreau as Foggy, Elden Henson was cast as Matt's best friend in the series, as Favreau was already serving double duty, helming the MCU as director and as Happy Hogan. When it came to Karen Page, showrunner Steven DeKnight couldn't think of a better person than True Blood star Deborah Ann Woll. DeKnight took to social media to share how Woll nailed her audition, and the rest was history.

Daredevil Showrunner Steven DeKnight Reflects on Deborah Ann Woll's Audition as Karen Page

To set some context for how important Karen is to the series, she was initially a client of Murdock and Nelson, dealing with not only her extreme trauma of being a victim of a violent crime, but she also spent the better part of the series evolving out from that, treading that line between justice and revenge, bonding with Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle/Punisher, and creating through the emotional gamut of her on-and-off relationship with Matt as she wrestles with his double life as a lawyer and as Daredevil. It's a tenuous relationship that continues into the Disney+ sequel series Daredevil: Born Again, which showrunner Dario Scardapane expanded upon.

"Regarding [DeborahAnnWoll] and that heartbreaking interview, a little story. When we were searching for Karen Page for S1 of Daredevil, I watched an avalanche of taped auditions. When I saw hers, I damn near levitated out of my chair," DeKnight said. "One of the best auditions I have ever seen in my career. Absolutely mesmerizing. She holds the screen with her talent and beauty like few others. She anchored the show. And was a delight to work with. This just goes to show you that you never know what kind of struggles someone might be dealing with. We all have our self-doubts and personal demons. Try to be kind to each other. You never know what someone's going through."

While Woll reprised her role, her and Henson's roles were a bit underwhelming by design, considering how important they were in the previous series, as the characters largely bookended the season, with Bullseye (the returning Wilson Bethel) assassinating Foggy in the premiere episode and Karen only coming back around the season finale. Creatively, the series did far more to establish Cox and D'Onofrio's characters and the new additions, such as Margarita Levieva, Zabryna Guevara, Nikki James, Genneya Walton, Arty Froushan, and Michael Gandolfini. Season two saw Woll back for a more expanded role, while Henson returned via flashbacks. Daredevil and Daredevil: Born Again are available on Disney+.

Regarding @DeborahAnnWoll and that heartbreaking interview, a little story. When we were searching for Karen Page for S1 of Daredevil, I watched an avalanche of taped auditions. When I saw hers, I damn near levitated out of my chair.

— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) August 30, 2026

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