‘Echo’ Star Vincent D’Onofrio Talks Kingpin’s Next Move and ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Reboot

star Vincent D’Onofrio isn’t ready to say whether Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk has been healed by Maya Lopez. At the end of Disney+ and Hulu’s five episode miniseries, , Maya (Alaqua Cox) utilizes the powers of her Choctaw ancestors to enter Fisk’s mind and potentially heal him of his childhood trauma involving his abusive father and the ball peen hammer he used to stop him.

Once Maya releases Fisk from her grip, he desperately wants to know what she’s done to him, but he’s whisked away before the police arrive on the scene. At this moment, D’Onofrio can’t give the game away, especially with still en route. “That’s a good question, but I can’t answer that question.

That question is boxed up in a lot of other stuff, and I can’t open that box,” D’Onofrio tells . The mid credit scene also shows Fisk licking his wounds on his private plane until his interest is piqued by a news report about New York City’s lack of a strong mayoral candidate. The scene ends with Fisk seemingly interested in running for mayor, and while D’Onofrio can’t divulge too much about this story point either, he doesn’t believe Maya’s powers altered Fisk in such a way that he would suddenly devote his life to public service.

“I don’t think he’s changed; I think he’s enlightened,” D’Onofrio says. “I haven’t seen a lot of the episodes of . So, in my mind, after everything goes down with Maya, he gets on a plane, and … by the end of that flight, he decides, ‘If I want to be all powerful, this is what I’m going to do.’ That’s the most I can tell you.” In September 2023, hit the button and overhauled its planned 18 episode series after early footage failed to meet Marvel Studios’ expectations.

writer Dario Scardapane was brought on as the new showrunner, and it was soon decided that the isolated Marvel universe that once resided on Netflix would become MCU canon. “During our restart of all the creative on , all the creatives got together and said, ‘Look, this is how we’ve got to do it now,’” D’Onofrio says.

“So we are for sure only speaking about it in terms of being directly connected to the original , and that’s a great thing. It brings in a lot of cool stories and all the collateral story that happened in those original three seasons.” D’Onofrio is particularly excited about ’s addition of and directing duo, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead.

“I’m a huge fan of those guys, and I talk to them all the time now,” D’Onofrio shares. “When I heard that [they were joining ], I was like, ‘OK, not only are we switching things up, but the bosses are doing the right thing for us.’ They’ve given us their hottest talent, and that’s pretty cool.

So the first thing I did was thank them. I thanked Kevin [Feige] for doing that and sticking with Charlie and I. It’s a pretty amazing thing.” Below, during a recent spoiler conversation with , D’Onofrio also discusses the complicated familial relationship with Maya, before reflecting on the recent passing of his co star Andre Braugher.

( .) Yeah, all the doors are closed. Sort of. I don’t want to get into the specifics of it. They called me and said, “Hey, we want to bring you into the MCU, and we have a lot of things in mind.” It was a fantastic call to get. You quickly realize that they’re a hundred percent in with you and they want to know if you’re in with them, even if they aren’t ready to tell you about anything.

So you don’t get specifics, but you get a lot of enthusiasm and an invitation to the MCU, which is a pretty cool thing. Sydney Freeland, who’s the executive producer and one of the directors of , wanted me to do . In our first conversation, she explained to me the story of and that Maya Lopez’s journey was going to lead to some dark stuff and a bit of violence.

So I already knew that my character works best in that kind of tone, and when Sydney told me about the special way she wanted to tell Maya Lopez’s story, I was like, “Great. I love it because I really do think that Kingpin works best in a darker tone.” I think it is. During our restart of all the creative on , all the creatives got together and said, “Look, this is how we’ve got to do it now.” So we are for sure only speaking about it in terms of being directly connected to the original , and that’s a great thing.

It brings in a lot of cool stories and all the collateral story that happened in those original three seasons. So we now get to start this situation with all of that history behind us and the outcome of all that history. So we’re all talking about in those terms now. I’ve been acting for forty something years, and so I’m used to working with many different kinds of creative people.

The best ones have a completely unique look at things, and so it never surprises me when things change a bit from project to project. It just doesn’t. The most we can do is be very savvy when it comes to the canon of these characters, Daredevil and Kingpin. We need to be on it when it comes to the right tone, and we need to give them what they’re looking for when it comes to this kind of storytelling.

It’s different from the other stuff. Neither of us have superpowers, and we’re not from outer space. We’re character driven story characters. That’s the way we were presented originally, and that’s the idea now. So all of the artists and creatives behind this stuff are going to change things slightly to make our story interesting.

But I love it that everybody has things to say. I get told all kinds of crazy stuff and I just love it. I love that they’re paying attention. I love that everybody has their opinions and that they would rather it be this way or that way. As an actor, I can’t answer all of that stuff, but I can bring a performance forward for them that they’re going to appreciate.

So the rest is just the world that these movies and shows live in. There’s a big, strong fanbase, and that’s what makes these movies and shows survive. So, complain away, have opinions, do whatever you want to do. I love the excitement, and it doesn’t bother me. But every creative person I’ve ever met is unique, and they should be allowed to make unique choices.

So it doesn’t bother me [what people say] whether I agree with them or not. That’s a good question, but I can’t answer that question. That question is boxed up in a lot of other stuff, and I can’t open that box. No, I don’t think that. I want to do the right thing here and say something that is true, but not too revealing.

I don’t think he’s changed; I think he’s enlightened. I haven’t seen a lot of the episodes of . So, in my mind, after everything goes down with Maya, he gets on a plane, and the news is playing on the plane. It says, “New York is going to be looking for a new mayor soon,” and as he’s watching it, a light bulb goes on.

So, by the end of that flight, he decides, “If I want to be all powerful, this is what I’m going to do.” That’s the most I can tell you. When I was young, I thought I knew how to love: family, friends, partners. But a lot of that was about control. So you learn the hard way that love shouldn’t be about control, and it’s pretty obvious that for a lot of people that love each other, control is involved in that.

So that can cause problems, big problems, and in this case, and many cases throughout life, it’s both until you learn how to love better. Yeah, I don’t want to go there. I’m a huge fan of those guys, and I talk to them all the time now. I’m so happy that they’re doing this show. I’m just so happy about it.

When I heard that, I was like, “OK, not only are we switching things up, but the bosses are doing the right thing for us.” They’ve given us their hottest talent, and that’s pretty cool. So the first thing I did was thank them. I thanked Kevin [Feige] for doing that and sticking with Charlie and I.

It’s a pretty amazing thing. ( ) Well, nobody adjusts. You can’t drop your technique. You both just do the best you can to make the scene work. First of all, I’ve always believed the technique is only there if you need it. Experience helps a lot, because the longer you act, the better actor you are.

That’s my opinion of myself and my friends. Some of my friends have become incredible actors over time. They were always good, but now they’re the best actors around in my opinion. Sometimes, you can just go in and do the part and feel good about it, and everybody feels good about it. And sometimes, you need a technique.

My technique happens to be method acting. But the thing about butting heads is that as long as you’re getting the job done to the best of your ability, you’re doing the right thing. I don’t think anybody has to succumb to the other one. It’s a work atmosphere, and you have to apply yourself to the scene.

I know Matthew believes in this strongly, but our job is to service the story, and so we have to bring to it whatever we can in the best way we can. Well, I go to these expos now, and I never did anything like that before. I just didn’t get out a lot. So I didn’t know a lot of actors, but in the last year, I’ve met and talked with some of my favorite actors ever.

In the theater world, you see familiar faces. You get to talk with people in New York, and a bunch of us get together every once in a while. So I have that kind of camaraderie with New York actors, but in the business itself, the Hollywood side of the whole thing, I don’t have that circle of friends.

I did when I was younger for a short period of time, but I don’t anymore. So, nowadays, I get to do these expos, and I get to spend time with men and women that are really good at their jobs. We talk about the jobs that we’ve done and what’s meaningful to us. And, yeah, Andre has come up a lot.

He was quite an actor. He was really something. He was much more experienced than I was when we did that show. His chops were twice mine, easily. So I have those kinds of memories, and I’m still good friends with Gary Fleder, the director of [ ’s “The Subway”]. In fact, Gary was the one who told me that Andre passed.

So a lot of people still remember that show and that particular episode, and when I’m at these expos, people will come up to me and say, “It’s my favorite piece of television that I’ve ever seen.” And the minute somebody brings that episode up, the first thing I see is Andre’s face. It’s not because he passed away; it’s just because of who he was when he was alive and where we were in life and what he brought to the table every day.

That piece is like a two hander. It’s just him and I. There are some other scenes with other actors, but I didn’t meet anybody else. I only met Andre, and we were there on that platform for four days, I think. So I’ve been thinking about him a lot. * Echo THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day More from The Hollywood Reporter.