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Major spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again season 2, episode 7 follow.

You've seen Daredevil: Born Again season 2, episode 7, right? You're not just ignoring all these spoiler warnings? Great, then I assume you're already morning the death of lovable, conflicted Fisk ally Daniel Blake, played by Michael Gandolfini. Blake was killed in the closing moments of episode 7 after a physical confrontation with Buck Cashman (Arty Froushan) ended in gunshots. It was a painful moment for fans of the character, and it's about to get even worse: 

Apparently, Blake wasn't originally going to die in the plans for this season.

The story comes to us via Variety, who spoke to both Froushan and Born Again showrunner Dario Scardapane for an interview published April 28. In the discussion, Froushan explains that, when he filmed the final confrontation between his character and Gandolfini's, Cashman only pointed a gun at him and didn't shoot, then told him to run.

"Buck had to face up to Fisk, but he doesn’t admit it," said the actor, "He lies to Fisk’s face, basically, and says, ‘I killed him,’ but obviously he doesn’t."

Scardapane then hops in to reveal that, not only did Blake survive this confrontation, but that Gandolfini had even filmed more sequences for the future his character never got. "The way that it would have gone," says the showrunner, "Is that he stayed in the Fisk administration [... ] He goes in to resign and the new interim mayor is like, ‘I’m not taking your resignation. I’m going to keep you close because I don’t trust you.'"

So what changed? Why did the Daredevil editors CGI a fatal gunshot into the cashman/Blake confrontation?

"[It] doesn’t feel like the story was earned," Scardapane said, explaining that ashman sparing Blake "was kind of meh and a non-story… Sometimes the arc is built in and you’re extending it a little too far. Like, wait a second. He and Buck, in their twisted friendship, both had to be true to who they were. That’s the last moment because everything afterwards seemed kind of like a weird, lame coda that didn’t pay off."

Well, dang. Sorry Daniel. Maybe you can ping the folks over at Agatha All Along about this - I understand they have a special connection with Death.

Daredevil: Born Again's season 2 finale streams on Disney+ May 5.

Fear not, we have the essentials when it comes to Marvel's Daredevil - especially with Marvel Studios' Daredevil: Born Again. Check out:

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• What to watch before Daredevil: Born Again 
• If you’re starting Daredevil, here’s why Born Again matters
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• That time we caught Daredevil actor Charlie Cox sneaking into New York Comic Con as Bluey