Deborah Ann Woll on big Daredevil and God of War returns, favourite parts of Canada

As someone who’s been a part of multiple beloved franchises, Deborah Ann Woll has no doubt seen her fair share of pop-culture conventions over the years. And yet, you might be surprised to hear that the True Blood, Daredevil and God of War actress considers Game Con Canada (GCC) in Edmonton to be one of her absolute favourites.

“The people!” she tells MobileSyrup at GCC when asked what’s brought her to the show multiple times now. “The very first year I did it, it was their first year, and I had just come from a convention that treated me pretty terribly. And I came here, and everyone was so kind and well-organized and thoughtful, and it was exactly what I needed, that little restoration.”

She adds that she loved the upstart, “little convention that could” spirit of the show — a testament to Meibel Consulting, the small Lethbridge, Alta-based firm that’s organized GCC since 2023. “Now, it’s just grown and grown and grown, and I’m so happy to see that. And whenever they ask me, if I can make it, I will be here.”

Grand returns to the worlds of Daredevil and God of War

Woll talking with host Noura Ibrahim at GCC 2026.

As it so happens, Woll’s latest GCC appearance comes during a particularly big year for her. After a small stint reprising her beloved Marvel character Karen Page in the first season of Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again, fan outcry brought her back as a main member in this year’s second season. With Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) ruthlessly ruling New York as mayor, Karen steps up as both an ally and romantic partner to Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox) in his fight to take back the city. Woll’s Karen also got to make a cameo in the Disney+ special Punisher: One Last Kill, which built on the character’s long-running relationship with Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal).

Woll says she was grateful not only to get to return as Karen in a significant capacity, but to also have the freedom from the writers to help shape where the character’s story would go.

“Every time they come to us with scenes, they give us a lot of room to make them more specific to our character’s voice. Because Charlie and I’ve been playing these characters for 14 years — Vincent as well. There’s no one who knows these characters within this universe better than us. And I’ve always really appreciated that, because I’m so inspired by what they write. I like that they then say, ‘How do you make this more specifically Karen?'” she says.

“I loved the direction that they were going, and in some of the moments, like the moments with Bullseye [Wilson Bethel], some of the disagreements that I’ve had with Matt along the storyline, [they’re] really taking Karen to some of her boundaries. She’s willing to cross those, I think, more readily than Matt is in many ways. Maybe [it’s] Frank Castle’s influence, but also her own. I always say Karen has had enough trauma for 20 lifetimes, and I think her barometer of what is healthy and what is not is probably way off by this point.”

Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Karen Page (Woll) in the second season of Daredevil: Born Again. (Image credit: Marvel Television)

Alongside the Marvel Universe, Woll was also announced just a few weeks ago as the star of her own game in PlayStation’s massively popular God of War series, God of War Laufey. The death of her character, Faye/Laufey, was the inciting incident in 2018’s God of War reboot, with her husband Kratos and son Atreus going on a journey to spread her ashes. In 2022’s God of War Ragnarök, Woll got to portray Faye in a few short but pivotal flashbacks, and now, in Laufey, she leads her own adventure as she fights to aid Kratos and Atreus from afar in the afterlife.

During a GCC panel, Woll called Laufey her “favourite job” she’s ever had, praising developer Santa Monica Studio for being “so incredibly good at what they do.” During our interview shortly after, Woll elaborated on her excitement about getting to finally flesh out this essential character in the God of War universe.

“What we saw of Faye so far, I don’t think it’s inaccurate, but it is through Kratos’ eyes — what he remembered of her, what she meant to him. Which is quite positive — it’s an uplifting presence, it’s a motivating presence. But obviously, we know human beings are more complicated than that. And when we look back on people who have died, we tend to remember their best moments. And I’m really excited to bring out some of Faye’s conflict,” says Woll with a laugh.

“She is someone who let down her entire race of people [the Jötnar, also known as the Giants]. She is someone who has enormous regret. And just like Kratos, they met at this point in time where they were both trying to cast off failure in their past and move on. And they met, and they had this incredible fight that ended in this stalemate, where they said, ‘Okay, you’re my person.’ And from that, they rebuilt themselves with each other’s help. So we’ve seen who Kratos is with the support of Faye; we now get to see who is Faye with the support of Kratos. Who did he help her become? How did he help her be better? And I think these are two people that are so intrinsically combined that learning about the other one only allows you to learn more about the first.”

Faye in God of War Laufey. (Image credit: PlayStation)

One of the other fun things unifying Woll’s recent work is the fact that Cox, too, had his own pivotal role in a game as the voice of major playable character Gustave in last year’s award-winning Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Admittedly, Cox didn’t spend much time in the booth as Gustave, with the actor instead giving the bulk of the credit to performance capture artist Maxence Cazorla. With that said, Cox did confirm earlier this year that he would have a “much more involved” role in another game soon.

Naturally, then, I had to ask: What conversations have Woll and Cox had about their nascent — but already prominent — video game journeys thus far?

“We’ve definitely chatted about it! You can’t share everything because of NDAs. And Charlie’s been very open that he didn’t do mo-cap work or face-cap, and he’s been very supportive of the actors who did. But he was like, ‘I spent four hours in a voiceover booth,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve spent two years in a mo-cap suit and a heavy helmet!'” she says with a laugh. “But it’s still about, ‘How do you create character, and how do you make something really impactful?’ And that’s what we want to do every single time. And I’m really encouraging him, if he ever has the opportunity to do proper motion-capture, face-capture, that he should absolutely do it, because I think he’d thrive.”

D&D and R&R in Ontario

While we’ll have to wait to learn more about Laufey, including when it’s even coming out, Woll does have one other big ongoing project that she can more freely talk about: Tales From Woodcreek. Created by Woll and Toronto filmmaker Ed Gass-Donnelly, it’s a Dungeons & Dragons web series that stars Woll and Toronto-based D&D YouTubers Monty Martin and Kelly McLaughlin (Dungeon Dudes) and features guests like Anjali Bhimani (Apex Legends), Jessica Henwick (Marvel’s Iron Fist, also appeared alongside Woll in Marvel’s Defenders) and Markham, Ont.’s own Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel).

Woll as Dungeon Master during Tales From Woodcreek. (Image credit: Dungeon Dudes)

Notably, Tales From Woodcreek received funding from Ontario Creates and was filmed in the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s Village at Black Creek, a location many will no doubt remember from trips with school or family. For Woll, it was an “amazing” opportunity to get to tap into her passion for tabletop adventures at such a historic location.

“Our whole idea with Woodcreek is: ‘How do we make site-specific stories?’ So we had some ideas of what we wanted to do, so we could focus our looking. But once we found Black Creek, we just went there over and over again, and tried to come up with, ‘Well, there’s this amazing apple cider cellar — we have to make them go down in there. It gets so dark at night, we need to send them out after the dark.’ So you start to get inspired by the place,” she says.

“And it’s also, frankly, hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of atmosphere and background just in that place. You don’t have to hire a set decorator to go and find a bunch of stuff and build it; it’s just right there, [with] that history, that heritage. And they were really wonderful and generous, and we were very careful between what’s an heirloom and what’s our puzzle. It was inspiring and so exciting, and I can’t wait to do it again.”

At GCC, fans got to see a Woodcreek adventure performed live from the Edmonton Expo Centre’s main stage. As Dungeon Master, Woll led Martin, McLaughlin, Edmonton’s own Mark Meer (Mass Effect), Noura Ibrahim (Vampire: The Masquerade) and Ginny Di (a guest on Woodcreek) through a séance-themed yarn that even occasionally had members of the audience taking part as “ghosts” who responded to special calls and messages left hidden under their seats.

Tales From Woodcreek live at GCC 2026. From left to right: Kelly McLaughlin, Monty Martin, Woll, Mark Meer and Noura Ibrahim.

And at the end of the show, Woll confirmed that a Kickstarter for Season 2 of Woodcreek will begin on August 11, with her, Martin, McLaughlin and Bhimani set to return alongside special guests. Scripts are currently being written ahead of a winter production start.

As we wait for that, I wrap up our interview, reflecting on the fact that Woll has done quite a lot in Canada lately. While she admits she hasn’t had much opportunity for tourism in Edmonton during her near-annual GCC appearances, she has spent much more time across Ontario between filming Woodcreek in Toronto and shooting an unnamed movie last fall in Sudbury with Gass-Donnelly. I had to ask, then: what have been some of her favourite parts of the province?

“I do love Toronto Centre Island. I think it’s really beautiful. It’s got a hedge maze — are you kidding? That’s like made for me!” she says with a laugh. “I love Lake Ontario. I’ve always been a lake person, despite the fact that I’ve lived on the two coasts near the oceans. I really much prefer lakes. I like the Toronto Botanical Garden. I’m a nature person, so those are the things I tend to gravitate towards.”

Seasons 1 and 2 of Daredevil: Born Again and Punisher: One Last Kill are now streaming on Disney+. God of War Laufey doesn’t yet have a release date, but it’s confirmed to be coming to PS5. The first season of Tales From Woodcreek is on the Dungeon Dudes’ YouTube channel.

For more on GCC, check out our interview with Wu-Tang’s YDB. We’ll have more from the show in the coming days.

Image credit: Marvel Television/PlayStation/Dungeon Dudes