SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details from Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again. 

When Ayelet Zurer reprised her role as Vanessa Fisk, the wife of Vincent D’Onofrio’s supervillain Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin, in Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again, it would be a bittersweet journey for the acclaimed Israeli actress. Zurer had played Kingpin’s wife and closest confidante in the first three seasons of Netflix’s Daredevil before the series was canceled and then resurrected seven years later for Disney+ as Daredevil: Born Again.

Audiences were recently left shocked in the fifth episode of Season 2 when Vanessa, who had been taking on a bigger role in Kingpin’s criminal empire, is mortally wounded in an attack and initially survives long enough to be treated. However, she ultimately succumbs to her injuries by the end of the episode, sending Wilson into a fit of rage and despair. 

“I love Vanessa,” Zurer tells Deadline. “It’s so bizarre because she’s so far away from me. She’s this morally complex art dealer connected to the crime world who serves a very specific aspect of Kingpin. She was written in a way where everything was about honesty and she’s a person who is so used to people lying to themselves and others – people with money, mostly because that’s how she views the world she is in – so she’s kind of jaded.

“But she grew into this very interesting character who could take a lot of shit and at the end of Season One we see her as part of the complete amalgamation of her and Wilson and they’re on the same path. She’s serving him, obviously, and we realize that all along she was serving him. Even though their paths were apart and it seemed like she might have been doing her own thing, she actually didn’t and she kept going on the same sort of narrative that completes him. It’s ultimately a really strong love story, which is always interesting to me because the antagonists are the people with the strongest love affair. It’s this delicious juxtaposition of menace and love.” 

Zurer admits that when she first found about Vanessa’s arc this season, there were a lot of mixed emotions. Showrunner Dario Scardapane and executive producer Sana Amanat knew that Vanessa’s death would spark the rage in Kingpin that was needed to propel the future of the story and while the departure is a sad one, “it’s beautifully done.” 

“In the second season, there’s a new threat coming into the picture and I think Vanessa is feeling it but the internal threat that she is feeling is not enough,” says Zurer. “[Kingpin] is enough for her but she’s not enough. He always wants more, he’s always hungry and always needs to fill another hole within himself to conquer more, get more control, to expand his dream and she starts to realize that it’s not quite sitting well. There is this real sensation that there is danger and that the level of danger is really spiking. But it’s all beautifully done because Dario wrote it in a way where it’s very internal.”

She continues: “I’ll always find her fascinating. I wish had even more to investigate with her but even though this is very much a comic book show with action, it’s the depth of the show that has always been so interesting to me. There has always been an attempt to talk about something deeper and that comes from the writers because they create really interesting juxtapositions for the story and for the characters.”

Zurer began her career in Israeli cinema and TV in the early ’90s where she won an Israel Film Academy Award for her role in Nina’s Tragedies and an Israeli Television Academy Award for her role in In Therapy. She was also nominated for her work in Shtisel. Her transition to Hollywood happened after casting director Nina Gold saw Zurer’s performance in 2004 film Something Sweet, which ultimately led to Gold casting her in Steven Spielberg’s Munich in 2005. Zurer went on to take roles in Angels & Demons with Tom Hanks and Man of Steel, the latter in which she played Superman’s biological mother. 

More recently, she has returned as Queen Achinoam in a second season of Amazon MGM Studios’ hit biblical drama House of David. The series, which drew 22 million viewers in the first 17 days after its Season 1 launch, hails from Wonder Project’s Jon Erwin (Jesus Revolution) and Jon Gunn (Ordinary Angels) and tells the story of the ascent of the biblical figure David (Michael Iskander), who eventually becomes the most renowned and celebrated king of Israel. 

The series follows the once-mighty King Saul as he falls victim to his own pride. At the direction of God, the prophet Samuel anoints an unlikely outcast teenager as the new king. As Saul loses his power over his kingdom, David finds himself on a journey to discover and fulfil his destiny. Zurer’s Queen Achinoam is wife to King Saul and not much is known of her in the original text, but the series presents her as a politically aware and emotionally complex royal figure, navigating life within Saul’s court during a turbulent period in Israel’s history.

“I wasn’t sure I wanted to do a historical biographical series because these kinds of stories can easily go wrong,” she admits. “The retelling of the Bible can go really wrong, particularly when it comes to developing characters. But I met with the creators, and we talked about women at the time and how they didn’t have that much agency. Women were not allowed to own land, let alone have the ability to change or affect stories and I wasn’t interesting in taking part in a story where women were just tools of the story. I wanted them to have a real agenda.” 

She then started listening to podcasts about historians talking about the Bible and began to realize that women at the time actually “did have a lot of power.” 

“It was not always out in the front so much, but definitely behind the scenes,” she says. “I found some intriguing things about witchcraft at the time and the perception of it and the perception of women and their roles in those days and they overcame their limitations. That’s what really interested me.”  

House of David ultimately has become one of Zurer’s “favorite jobs” to date. Both series shot in Greece, and she says she found the entire process “incredibly collaborative” and fun. 

Zurer says she was adamant that she didn’t want to make Achinoam into “a wicked queen” and wanted her to have a “very grounding reason to do everything she does.” 

“I found faith for her was a really big thing, so I leaned on that,” she says. “When the rug is pulled from underneath her feel and she has to protect herself, she’s scared of losing her identity. So, by protecting the King and the Kingdom, she is protecting her identity. Some people will see her as just the bad Queen, but I don’t see it that way. She’s a very real woman in that time that would do anything to protect her family and that’s what she does, and I really fought for that.” 

When it comes to choosing her roles, Zurer says that in addition to connecting with the character and the production team, she also thinks a lot about her audience. “I really feel like being an actor is a spiritual thing and you are serving a creation of some sort of subconscious and adding to the subconscious mind and maybe the conscious mind as well. So, I fell a little bit of responsibility in that space. 

“You’ve got to do that because when you are a working actor, you are the luckiest person on Earth because you get to be in places of work with a lot of really talented and interesting people, travel the world and make money while doing your job. So, I’m very conscious of that and because of what it gives me, I feel like I have to be responsible of what I’m doing and how I’m doing it.” 

At present Zurer is dipping her toe in the writing space and has three projects in development. While they are still too early to discuss, she does reveal that one is a film about a family that touches on the subject of autism, another is a show that she is developing and she also has a graphic novel in development. Zurer has previously illustrated two adult books, Shorts and Badolina by Gabi Nitzan. 

“I have been writing and developing things for the screen for more than 10 years now,” she says. “I know how hard it is and I have such a tremendous respect for writers now. It’s so hard to finish writing something and then bring it to someone else to read.” 

Iranian American actor Anthony Azizi says the continuing Middle East conflict has sparked rising persecution of Iran’s Baha’i minority, including its members being jailed and tortured under the threat of execution.

“This a war on human rights and humanity and people who have no rights,” Azizi, a veteran series regular on U.S. dramas like CSI, Tehran and Gaumont TV’s The Deal, tells The Hollywood Reporter. He stars in Cast Aside the Clouds, an Iran-set romance thriller about a young Baháʼí woman, played by Parmiss Sehat, who navigates her faith and systemic persecution.

The indie from co-directors Mary Darling, Bre Vader and Felicia Sobhani will have a U.S. premiere on May 18 at Cinema Village in New York City, followed by a Los Angeles premiere from June 4 at Lumiere Music Hall. There’s additional theatrical dates set in Chicago and northern Virginia in June.

Shot in Athens doubling as Tehran, Cast Aside the Clouds has Azizi playing Farhad Khosrovi, a bookstore owner whose daughter Utab (Sehat) attends a secret university aligned with the Iranian Bahá’í spiritualist faith.

After the bookstore is attacked, a hospitalized Utab meets a young Muslim neurologist, Dr. Sasan Naderi, played by Behtash Fazlali, and they fall for one another. With a romance between a Muslim and a member of the Bahá’í faith opposed by both of their families, their relationship is also tested when Utab learns Sasan has plans to go to Germany and she is arrested, imprisoned and tortured for being a Baha’i.

A drama about persecution in Iran resonates with Azizi, who was born in Tehran and into a Baha’i family where relatives lost jobs, were jailed, had property confiscated and two defiant uncles were executed after refusing to disavow their Baha’i faith.

“Both of my uncles rejected that notion and said there’s no way we will ever renounce what we believe is the elixir for all of mankind’s problems. You’re asking us to renounce what we believe is the answer. So they did not renounce their faith in Bahá’u’lláh and were murdered. Simply murdered,” Azizi recalled of his family members defying their interrogator and sticking to their belief in the Iranian founder of the Baha’i faith.

The Iranian American actor argues the long-standing persecution of the Baha’is in Iran has only escalated with the current Middle East tensions. “To murder people on the basis of their religious belief, it’s unreal to me that this is happening in 2026,” Azizi added.

Director Darling, while pointing to persecution of the Baha’is in Iran going back to the 1800s, echoed how the current Middle East crisis had escalated that threat to the religious minority. “Because of the ongoing war in Iran, the Baha’is are being scapegoated as spies for Israel, spies for America,” she warned.

Darling pointed to recent high profile imprisonments of Baha’i cousins Peyvand Naimi and Borna Naimi, who have undergone torture to force confessions and face possible death sentences. “It’s really horrible. They blindfold them, they beat them, they put them in a chair, they cover their heads, then they try to force confessions for being spies. And they think they’re going to die,” the director insisted.

Hollywood actors Penn Badgley, Mark Ruffalo and Rainn Wilson have released an Instagram video calling for the release of the Naimi cousins from the infamous Kerman Prison.

FRIDAY AM UPDATE, AFTER EXCLUSIVE: Disney is reporting $10M in Thursday night U.S. previews for 20th Century Studios‘ The Devil Wears Prada 2. But global is up to $50.5M already. Wowza. The global opening forecast for chapter 2 is close to $180M worldwide.

The $100M feature production bowed in 35 markets yesterday including Germany, Spain, Australia, China, Brazil and Mexico, taking the full total to 45 markets to date. The first two days have strutted $40.5M at the overseas B.O.
 
The Devil Wears Prada 2 has posted the highest opening day of 2026 to date in Brazil, Italy, Korea and Australia as well as Belgium, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Greece, Ukraine, New Zealand, Taiwan and the Philippines. The sequel opened at No. 1 or top non-local in all markets except for Netherlands, Ecuador and Bolivia.

The individual territories are shaping up as follows: Italy ($5.9M), Brazil ($3.2M), Germany ($3.1M), Mexico ($3M), Australia ($2.7M), France ($2.7M), China ($2.4M), Korea ($1.5M), Argentina ($1M), Spain ($1M) and all others ($14M).

The U.S. Rotten Tomatoes audience score stands at 88% versus the first pic’s 76%. The Wendy Finerman production is booked at 4,150 theatres including 1,000 Premium Large Format screens, 200+ DBOX/Motion screens, and 100 ScreenX screens.

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Studios’ The Devil Wears Prada 2 is sashaying in tonight with $10M previews which began at 2PM today according to sources.

Heck, yes, that’s a great start. At that level, Devil Wears Prada 2 is under last summer’s kickoff, Disney/Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* ($11.5M previews, $74.3M opening), right near Disney’s Little Mermaid ($10.3M previews, $95.5M opening) from 2023, and just under 2017’s Wonder Woman ($11M previews, $103.2M). A week ago, Lionsgate’s Michael posted overall previews (Thursday and Wednesday fan Imax shows) of $12.6M which led to a $97.2M North American start. Devil Wears Prada 2 is booked at 4,150 theaters and has all the PLF screens, while the King of Pop holds onto Imax.

Presales were quite sexy heading into the weekend with $20M for the David Frankel-directed sequel, which arrives in theaters close to 20 years after the first pic. That presales figure was on par with Project Hail Mary ($80M) and Dune: Part Two ($82.5M). Granted those are both male-skewing movies versus Devil Wears Prada 2 which is female, meaning attendance could be frontloaded for the sequel this weekend. Tracking has Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci sequel between $73M-$80M. Word of mouth bodes well with reviews now at 78% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, higher than the original 2006 film which was 75% certified fresh. RelishMix reports on their social media buzz meter, Devil Wears Prada 2 is at a high 7.2 (versus The Breadwinner‘s 3.9M and Star Wars: Mandalorian and Grogu‘s 5.3.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 opens everywhere overseas this weekend. A $180M global start is expected or $100M overseas. In China, Prada 2 is tracking to $2.5M on Friday. Thursday was $2.4M.

The first Devil Wears Prada posted a Friday of $9.4M, a 3-day of $27.5M and finaled at $124.7M domestic, and $326.5M worldwide.

Exhibitors, likewise, were also seeing robust advance ticket sales for part 2.

Alamo Drafthouse crossed $1M in presales on The Devil Wears Prada 2 which tracks similar to Deadpool & Wolverine for the dine-in exhibitor.

“Presales for Devil Wears Prada 2 are super-strong, with a lot of group buyouts coming in,” said Traci Hanlon, CMO of Dallas luxe circuit Cinergy Entertainment. “We’re seeing real demand for the Prada-themed experiences, especially our dress-to-impress Prada Brunch and Couture Night events. We expect the popcorn purse bags to sell out quickly, and we’re really excited about our ‘human crane’ giveaway game with an actual Prada bag…all of our movie-themed in-theatre promos are getting a lot of moviegoer attention.”

Cinergy held a premiere night tonight for moviegoing members with a red carpet, prosecco greeting, paparazzi-style photos, and guests in full runway looks. The chain is literally putting actual designer bags, we’re talking Prada and Coach, inside a life-size “Human Crane” game which will be at their Midland, TX theater throughout the weekend until the bags are gone.

Separately, the Boxoffice Company reports that 28% of all scheduled weekend showtimes in the United States are being designated to Devil Wears Prada 2 followed by Michael (19%), The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (11%), and Project Hail Mary (7%).