There’s a new Urich in town and, just like her uncle before her, BB is all about digging up the truth and rooting out corruption — and getting way too deep into Wilson Fisk’s risky business in the process. Played by “Candy Cane Lane” and “#blackAF” star Genneya Walton, BB Urich is the next generation investigative NYC reporter in “Daredevil: Born Again,” pounding pavement for her man-on-the-street ‘BB Report’ interviews, penning editorials and courting access to the rich, powerful and corrupt power players of the city who can help her get the scoop.
“She’s really powered by truth and integrity,” Walton told TheWrap. “I think she really values being the voice of people that might not otherwise have it.”
Naturally, that’s going to pit her against a figure of rampant corruption like Wilson Fisk, but the two also have bad blood that runs deeper. Fisk killed BB’s beloved uncle in the original series. Until Episode 8, the series let us believe she was ignorant to that fact, but the penultimate episode of Season 1 revealed she’s been suspicious of him this whole time, using her access to get closer to the truth.
When the original “Daredevil” series killed off comic book mainstay Ben Urich (played by Curtis Vondie Hall) at the end of Season 1, it was a controversial decision that rattled fans of the source material. But it also cemented D’Onofrio’s Fisk as one of the scariest Marvel characters to hit the screen, marking him as a truly terrifying adversary for any truth-seeker. That definitely includes BB, who is dancing with the devil even though she knows what he’s capable of.
“He’s a very dangerous man, so I’m not sure how far she’s really thought about it in terms of the consequence, should things go a certain way, if it’s found out and he’s unhappy with things I’ve been doing,” Walton said. “BB was just highly inspired by her uncle, Ben, probably why she ended up getting in the same field as him. And I think their close relationship, and his death, obviously affected her deeply. So I really think she’s kind of one-track-minded, and she’s doing what she needs to do.”
How far is she willing to take her dangerous mission? Walton says that remains to be seen, but she’s already putting her relationships on the line. “She’s manipulating her friend even to get close to the person that she suspects murdered her uncle,” Walton said.
That friend is Michael Gandolfini’s Daniel Blake, a neophyte politician climbing the ranks of the Fisk campaign, and the unlikely duo have wound up in cahoots, though their end goals may be very different. “I think it’s kind of a mutual knowing that he can benefit from me, I can benefit from him. It’s kind of like an unspoken thing even,” Walton described their relationship. “I think it’s mutual in a way, but she definitely has her own agenda that he is unaware of, and she’s using that to her advantage.”
Whether it’s getting dangerously close to the man she suspects of murder or leveraging her friendships, it’s all about justice for BB, according to Walton. “As the story goes on, we’ll see how far she’s willing to take it, but I think she’s really just trying to find the truth and gain closure from that,” she said, adding, “And she’s exhausted of seeing a man with so much power get away with things all the time. She’s trying to put a stop to that at some point, however that may be.”
To pursue that goal, BB is spending a lot of time with Fisk, which means Walton has spent a lot of time on set working alongside the great Vincent D’Onofrio. “I always feel like valuable lessons aren’t always the ones that are verbally given to you, but rather the ones that you observe,” Walton reflected on the experience, “The way in which he holds himself on set and is able to command the room is so fascinating, and he’s still one of the funniest people I’ve ever met in my life. He’s able to really flip that switch so quickly, and it’s such a skill.”
Episode 8 wasn’t just a turning point for Walton’s character, but a turning point behind the scenes. Shot after the series was revamped during the strikes, the big ensemble episode is set at a splashy gala, and it was the first time all the principal cast members were on set together.
“You can shoot the entire show and still not meet all of your cast members yet, so that was such a fun bonding time,” Walton recalled. “We were there for like five days in the same space, and we all were getting tired at points, so Charlie asked someone to play music, so they played like Rhianna like, ‘We Found Love,’ and we heard it go and ran out and had a whole dance party. So much fun. They’re all wonderful people. The energy was so good being all together, because you don’t get to do that very often.”
Episode 8 was also one of the episodes completely directed by “Moon Knight” and “Loki” Season 2 directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who boarded the series after the post-Strike shakeup and are returning alongside showrunner Dario Scardapane for Season 2. “They’re genuinely some of the most fun and collaborative directors I’ve had the honor of working with,” Walton said. “They just bring such a fun warmth to the set and really allow for the space for us to share our thoughts and feelings about what’s going on and ideas, and they’ll share theirs, and it’s very much a collaborative experience.”
Season 1 is still rolling out new episodes, but production on Season 2 is already underway in New York, and Walton is back in action as BB, now with the added layer of her character’s big secret. “I’m so grateful that we get to do this again, because now that it’s known that she has her suspicions, now I think we can really get into a bigger arc in what she’s really here for, and how she’s planning to go about her M.O.,” Walton teased. “I think there’s just so much more to explore, more to do there now that the secret’s out. We get to explore that and I’m discovering new things about BB every single day as we continue filming.”
