The second season of Daredevil: Born Again has already garnered rave reviews from critics and fans alike, and has thus far provided an extremely satisfying continuation of the acclaimed first season. Anchored by the war against vigilantes waged by Vincent D’Onofrio’s Mayor Wilson Fisk, season 2 has elevated the stakes well beyond Daredevil’s individual campaign against Kingpin. While most of the series’ core cast members have returned, some new faces have already made a noteworthy impact, with one standing above the others both in menace and potential future impact.
Matthew Lillard was introduced in the first episode of season 2 as the mysterious “Mr. Charles”, a CIA operative who directly works for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ CIA Director in the MCU. While little has been revealed about Mr. Charles, it’s clear that he wields far more influence on the grand scale than Wilson Fisk, as he is sent to ensure the incidents surrounding the Northern Star and Red Hook are handled on behalf of far greater powers. The role of Mr. Charles marks a continuation of an interesting trend for Matthew Lillard in recent months.
Matthew Lillard Has Played a Villain in Three 2026 Projects
In 2026, Matthew Lillard has had key roles in multiple high-profile projects, with more on the way. In a bit of a turn from what has previously been his career norm, Lillard has now gone three-for-three in 2026 as a villain. In Daredevil: Born Again his character Mr. Charles is painted as a man to be feared, as his smug and dismissive demeanor towards Fisk proves just how far beyond New York City his concerns are. He cares about the Red Hook port simply as a means to get the array of weapons on board the North Star to more influential parties.
Lillard wielded power for evil in another TV show this year: the crime thriller series Cross on Amazon Prime, which is based off James Patterson’s popular Alex Cross novel series. In the show’s second season, Lillard played the villainous billionaire Lance Durand guilty of human trafficking and exploitation of minors, among other crimes. Finally, Lillard reprised his role as Stu Macher (sort of) from the original Scream movie in the much-anticipated sequel Scream 7.
Matthew Lillard Is in the Middle of a Career Renaissance
The 56-year-old actor is in the midst of what many have considered to be a career renaissance, as he’s garnered plenty of acclaim for his resurgent work as an actor. Beginning with his role as William Afton in the smash-hit video game adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s in 2023, Lillard has been involved in a number of high-profile movies and TV shows. In the past two decades, he’s done a lot of voice work and small one-off supporting roles, whereas he had a number of famous starring roles in the late 90s and early 2000s.
His most famous role is easily as Shaggy Rogers in the two live-action Scooby-Doo movies of the 2000s, considered by many to be one of the more perfect adaptation castings ever. Much of the voice work he’s done in the last 20 years has in fact been as Shaggy Rogers in various Scooby-Doo-related projects. However, roles like Mr. Charles in Daredevil: Born Again and Lance Durand in Cross prove just how much range Lillard has as an actor. It seems likely he’ll continue to earn more high-profile roles in the coming years; we’ll next see him in Mike Flanagan’s upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie and the Tony Gilroy drama Behemoth!
- Release Date
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March 4, 2025
- Network
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Disney+
- Showrunner
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Dario Scardapane
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
