DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN Showrunner Talks About Why They Rehauled the Show
We are just over a month away from seeing Daredevil return to the screen, but it has been a long road since the Netflix series, and even since the new show, Daredevil: Born Again, was announced. Fans were nervous when the show’s trajectory pivoted during filming, with the story taking a new course, but as current showrunner Dario Scardapane explained to SFX magazine, "[The footage] had some really strong points, but it wasn't feeling in line with what Daredevil had been established to be."
Some of the issues stemmed from the decision to make a soft reboot of the Netflix show while also maintaining elements of it. Scardapane and Marvel instead decided to make the Defenders Saga part of the MCU, filming a new pilot which bridged the gap between the original series and the new show and brought original cast members back.
Scardapane also tells SFX (via GamesRadar) how he created the connective tissue, while also not forcing viewers to have seen the Netflix show before watching Born Again. "At the very end of the Netflix show, Foggy, Karen and Matt had a dream written out on the back of a napkin," the showrunner says. "We start with that dream. It’s not a dream that needs too much explanation; three good friends go into business together."
Scardapane isn't the only one to comment on the change of direction in SFX's wide-ranging feature on the show. As Matt Murdock star Charlie Cox explains, "There was a U-turn after the strike, where we were headed in one direction which was interesting and valid.
"The argument was, if we’re coming back after all these years, we don’t want to just do exactly the same thing. Marvel looked at the episodes and knew it wasn’t quite working. We shot a whole new pilot and they reorganised what we had filmed to make it feel more like the show we had shot all those years previously. Given what a Herculean task that was, it’s very impressive what they achieved."
I loved the original series, and I am looking forward to seeing Charlie Cox return to the role of Matt Murdock/Daredevil. He is joined by returning cast members Elden Henson as Froggy Nelson, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin.
The series also stars Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/Punisher, Wilson Bethel as Benjamin “Dex” Poindexter, and Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Marianna-Fisk, as well as Margarita Levieva, Michael Gandolfini, Genneya Walton, Arty Froushan, Jeremy Earl, and more.
Daredevil: Born Again is being developed by directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who worked on both Moon Knight and Loki.
Daredevil: Born Again is set to arrive on Disney+ on March 4th, 2025.