How Marvel's 'Punisher' Changed Karen Page Before 'Daredevil' Season 3

Of all of Matt Murdock’s allies in Hell’s Kitchen, none have had a journey like Karen Page. Now a reporter for the (fictional) New York Bulletin, Deborah Ann Woll’s character proves you don’t need masks to be a hero — even in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But how much has Karen changed (especially in the absence of Matt) thanks to her time as a key character in The Punisher? Here’s what you need to know ahead of Daredevil Season 3.

During a set visit to Season 3 of Daredevil earlier this year, Woll explained to members of the press that Karen is now “more sensitive” to extreme action after meeting Frank Castle (AKA The Punisher). She also believes the character is more determined than ever to keep Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson in her life, even if it means taking matters into her own hands.

“All these worlds are violent worlds. Punisher’s particularly so,” Woll said. “One of my favorite themes from The Punisher, [seen in] one scene by the water where I ask him, ‘Where does this end? At what point is your revenge over? What point do you feel better killing hundreds of people?’ Of course the answer is never. I like the idea that that’s a realization for me too.”

Woll adds: “It made me more sensitive to the consequences of extreme action and some of that theme gets picked up between Karen and Matt once we realize he’s still around.”

And as Karen Page has become more sensitive, how Karen treats her job as a reporter only gets more intense in the new season of Daredevil.

“‘You can’t do the story, I’m the only one.’ That’s a weakness,” Woll explains. “‘I can’t let it go, I don’t trust anyone else to do it right. Someone else might be biased or influenced by Fisk. It’s hard to know who to trust. Karen’s weakness is that she wants to be in the middle of it.”

But while Karen Page is hard on herself, Woll is a bit more chill. And her crash course in journalism comes from someone very close whom she definitely trusts: her own family.

“My aunt teaches journalism in Washington. So I have picked her brain a ton,” she says. “In Punisher, we had the guy who wrote in a threat to the paper. She gave me a lot of information about the Unabomber. We wanted to make sure we follow the line on it. Obviously, it’s TV, you have to take poetic license here and there. It’s been nice to finally play that archetype.”

Woll adds that “consequences can be awful” in Daredevil. “And they still are this season,” she says. “Karen deals with, ‘I keep trying to do the right thing and still people still die.’ They die on my watch and sometimes because of me.”

Marvel’s Daredevil Season 3 premieres October 19 on Netflix.