Netflix’s cancellation of Marvel’s Daredevil was a blow to many, but few more than Charlie Cox — the actor who played Daredevil himself, Matt Murdock. After a week of silence, he’s finally come out and said his piece.
“A lot of us really expected to keep going, and I certainly did,” Cox told Entertainment Weekly. “The truth is, I felt like we had a lot of stories to tell, and although I understand [the cancelation], I’m very saddened by that.”
Though Daredevil debuted on Netflix in 2015, Cox was cast as the character in the winter of 2014. That’s four and a half years, a long time to be playing one character in this day and age. Plus, the show had just debuted its third season a few short months ago. People were still watching and getting excited to see what was next.
“It’s just how business works,” Cox said. “But also, these characters mean a lot to people. It’s weird to think there’s a chance I won’t be playing Matt Murdock ever again. That’s a bizarre feeling, because that character has been such a huge part of my life for the last four and a half years.”
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2018/12/marvelsdaredevil-writer-i-thought-it-was-too-big-to-fail/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/bc7akduhaayxo8qcnuuu.jpg” title=”Marvel’s Daredevil Writer: ‘I Thought It Was Too Big To Fail’” excerpt=”Netflix’s decision to cancel Marvel’s Daredevil was a surprise. No one knew it was coming. Not the stars, not Marvel’s executives. Not even the writers, who were already laying out plans for the next chapter of Daredevil’s story. We got a chance to talk with one of the writers who was working on season four, who shared her shock at the show’s demise and why she think it spells doom for the future of The Defenders TV universe.”]
When asked about where he thought the series could have gone after season three, Cox was careful not to say too much, because he didn’t want to put salt in the wound.
“I hate to be boring, but to be honest, I don’t think I should answer that,” Cox said. “It’s so new, the news. It’s quite painful for quite a lot of people. I was really excited about the ideas that were talked about for season four, and I think if I was to speculate about it and it went on the internet, it might not be very helpful to people… Anything I say often gets picked up and circulated, and I just want to make sure I don’t give any false hope.”
Netflix, however, had no problem give fans what could end up being false hope. In its statement after cancelling Daredevil, the network wrote “While the series on Netflix has ended, the three existing seasons will remain on the service for years to come, while the Daredevil character will live on in future projects for Marvel.”
But there’s no mention of this iteration of the character, and “future projects” for Marvel could literally mean anything. From Cox’s solemn quotes, it seems obvious he thinks it’s the end.
Read more of Cox’s thoughts at Entertainment Weekly and more on the end of Daredevil below.