‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Star Wilson Bethel Breaks Down Bullseye’s Journey to Find Balance

Daredevil: Born Again took a trip to the past with its latest episode, “The Grand Design,” which uncovered a moment from Matt Murdock’s (Charlie Cox) early days lawyering with best friend Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), at the same time as he guided Bullseye, a.k.a. Dex (Wilson Bethel) to safety after Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) wife Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer) was fatally injured at the charity boxing match in the previous installment. Warning: Spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episode 5 ahead!

As Matt, hidden under his Daredevil mask, guides a bleeding-out Bullseye to refuge, the men go back and forth about balance, the cost of Dex’s actions in Season 1, which left Foggy dead after Vanessa ordered the hit, and so much more. The flashback storyline, which saw Foggy attempt to help an old neighborhood friend, resembled the journey Matt took now with Bullseye.

It also revealed the origins of Buck (Arty Froushan), who was hired by fellow returning-from-the-dead character, Wesley (Toby Leonard Moore), for Fisk’s team back in the day. It turns out, Buck was targeting the friend Foggy had been trying to protect, only revealing how deep the overlapping lines cross for these characters. While the episode uncovers Vanessa’s potential death after surgery, we can’t help but wonder what’s next for Dex after Matt brings him to Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) for safety as the AVTF (Anti-Vigilante Task Force) hunts him down, along with Daredevil.

Below, Wilson Bethel breaks down Bullseye and Daredevil’s dynamic in Episode 5 and teases what could be next.

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Daredevil and Bullseye discuss balance as they make an escape to the church following the fight with Fisk at the boxing ring. Would Bullseye have been so willing to die if he knew that Vanessa was still alive at the hospital (until she wasn’t)? 

Wilson Bethel: I think he does feel like he’s delivered the balance, that he’s righted the scales. If there’s one thing that we know about Dex, it is that he’s got some mental issues. One of the symptoms of his mental illness is that he becomes fixated on the solutions to his problems, and in the past, he’s found his northern stars to guide him, and in this case, his northern star is this sort of morality equation that he’s created. Because he’s Dex, everything becomes hyper-simplified and tunnel-visioned on this one thing, to the exclusion of a lot of larger emotional logic, or moral logic in the world, and I think that’s one of the things that makes this character so fascinating.

He’s not just some psychopath for whom no rules apply; he has a very clear emotional logic and moral logic himself, which happens to change as his mental state goes through different iterations. I think by the end of Episode 4, Dex feels like he’s accomplished his mission. So when we get to Episode 5, there is a sense of, “I can go now. I’ve done what I needed to do. I’m good in the eyes of god. Let the lord take me,” kind of vibe. And of course, that sets up like a really interesting counterpoint, with him and Daredevil as they get taken through these tunnels and into the church.

Is there any part of Bullseye that’s antagonizing Matt to kill him? He repeatedly asks to be left behind as he bleeds out.

I don’t think he’s trying to antagonize him to the point of killing him. I think that he’s fine with Daredevil leaving him to die, and I guess arguably that’s the same thing, and certainly it becomes the same thing, at least from Matt’s perspective. But I think in the scale of Bullseye’s antagonism, it’s relatively minor.

Jojo Whilden / 2026 MARVEL

Meanwhile, Matt is determined to save Bullseye because he tried killing him after Foggy’s death. How does Bullseye feel about that?

I don’t think Dex is ever going to judge anybody for trying to kill somebody. I think he’s the wrong guy to judge other people for killing people. So I don’t think he necessarily holds it against Daredevil that he tried to kill Dex. I think the more complicated dynamic is Matt within himself, trying to come to terms with that night and everything that went on, including his best friend being killed, and him breaking his own foundational rule of not killing people, and of course, he tried to kill Dex that night.

This episode is filled with flashbacks to Matt and Foggy’s early days as lawyers. Did you cross paths with Elden Henson on set at all during the shoot?

The good news is me and Elden are always cool. I wasn’t on set for those scenes, but, of course, I get to see him in general when we’re at press events. So me and Elden are on good terms. I wasn’t on set for that, for that stuff in particular, but those scenes are amazing. I love that whole running flashback storyline with Matt and Foggy. I think it’s beautiful.

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Despite initially leaving Bullseye for dead, Daredevil comes back and whisks him away to safety. How does that shift Dex’s perspective on him?

The dynamic continues to evolve throughout the end of the season, and I would not say they are allies. I think the distinction is maybe [they’re] people who owe each other a bit, and are aware of a debt, but not necessarily allied. I think that’s a pretty important distinction. Ultimately, Dex is aware that Matt saved his life, and so he’s willing to perhaps return the favor a bit, but that’s not a kumbaya moment for these two characters. There’s too much history.

You are delivered to Karen, who is arguably not a fan of Bullseye. What can you tease about what’s on the horizon for them? 

One of the things that’s remarkable to me about these characters in the show, where we’re at with it is that between the Netflix show and then having a long break where the show was not on the air and then coming back, there is a huge amount of emotional history between these characters, and Dex has done some horrible stuff to Matt, Karen, Foggy, and none of that is ever for a second forgotten as the story evolves.

Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Tuesdays, 9/8c, Disney+