Matthew Lillard's Best Performance of 2026 Deserves to Live on Past Its Canceled Series

Is it too much to have Lillard in Secret Wars?

Well, after all that, Daredevil: Born Again is coming to an end. When the original Netflix series was canceled in 2018, fans clamored for Daredevil’s return. Eventually, Marvel greenlit Daredevil: Born Again, which was supposed to be an all-new continuity with the characters, albeit with some of the same cast. Then, late in production for season 1, the show was reworked to have more connective tissue with the Netflix version, effectively making all the Marvel/Netflix shows canon to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The revival debuted in March 2025, and the second season followed suit a year later. For the most part, the response has been positive (even with a perplexing season 2 finale), and it seemed the show could go on for much longer. Charlie Cox has even intimated that he’d be happy to play Daredevil into old age.

But in accordance with Marvel’s recent slash-and-burn approach to TV, Daredevil: Born Again has now been canceled and will end after season 3. As such, a good many of its characters may never be seen again after next season. While I assume Cox’s Daredevil may land somewhere (hopefully on the big screen), as will, I assume, Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin. However, supporting characters may not be so lucky. But if any of them do continue on, I’d like to make a case for the most intriguing, still-alive character on the whole show, Matthew Lillard’s Mr. Charles.

Meet Mr. Charles

In the season 2 premiere of Daredevil: Born Again, Mr. Charles is first seen in a DC bar. He's watching a news report about The Morning Star, a cargo ship bringing weapons into the Red Hook free port in Brooklyn, which just sank in the East River (supposedly because of Daredevil, but not really). Mr. Charles gets a call to investigate from an unseen caller and he then destroys the phone. He's next seen during a tense conversation between Mayor Fisk and some state officials in the mayor’s office. During the argument, Mr. Charles strolls in, loudly chewing food from a street vendor, talking about how good it is while the state officials wonder who he is. While Fisk seems to loathe his presence, he assures the officials that Mr. Charles is supposed to be in this meeting. Later, Mr. Charles is seen in a meeting with Fisk and Fisk’s wife Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) where they discuss ways to salvage the weapons aboard The Morning Star, making clear that there is some arrangement between Fisk and Mr. Charles’ bosses to smuggle weapons through the free port.

Throughout the rest of the season, Mr. Charles — who is revealed to be a CIA agent in league with Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis Dreyfus) — pops up sporadically. When Jessica Jones’ home is raided by a special ops team, she confronts Mr. Charles about it, at which point we find out that he’s her only access to Luke Cage, who is doing some shady overseas operations for the CIA. Mr. Charles’ best scenes, though, are all with Fisk, as he’s the rare person who has some ability to put pressure on Fisk (if not actually intimidate him).

The scenes with Fisk and Mr. Charles are much more about conflicts in style than they are the power dynamics, which is what makes Mr. Charles’ scenes so interesting. D’Onofrio plays Fisk as a ball of tension — a clenched fist in command of every one of his many pauses while he speaks (until, of course, he lets loose). Fisk is also impeccably dressed and relentlessly formal. Matthew Lillard’s Mr. Charles commands the same amount of power, but with a dress-down casualness that allows him to curse like a sailor and put his feet up on the coffee table in the mayor’s office. Fisk intimidates everybody, but not Mr. Charles, which is what makes the scenes so entertaining, especially as Fisk’s pent-up rage clearly increases with Mr. Charles around. The dynamic brought something to Daredevil: Born Again that the revival has been severely lacking: humor — especially since the decision was made to kill Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) at the beginning of the first season. While Daredevil: Born Again has mostly been a good show, it does grow a bit dull at times. Lillard is an absolute dynamo on the show, chewing the scenery in the perfect way.

By the end of the season, we find out that Mr. Charles has recruited Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) for some special CIA operations. That thread might be picked up in season 3 of Daredevil: Born Again, but it might not. It just depends on how much time is left over from the plotline, which sees Daredevil in prison, plus some sort of reunion with the Defenders. If there isn’t room for Lillard, that's okay. I’d hate to see it shoehorned in where it doesn’t belong, but I hope with we do get to see Mr. Charles again at some point. Since he works for Val, maybe he’ll be in a future Avengers movie, though I doubt they’d give his character much screen time there. Or maybe we’ll see Mr. Charles in a to-be-announced Daredevil movie. This would be ideal as it could feature a reunion with Wilson Fisk, as I definitely need a bit more of that antagonistic Fisk/Mr. Charles dynamic before Fisk decides to crush Mr. Charles' head in a car door or something.