When it became apparent that Daredevil: Born Again wasn't working, Marvel Studios chose to go back to the drawing board. That's almost inevitably going to delay the Disney+ series but, based on what we'd been hearing, it's probably for the best.
Talking on John Rocha's podcast, insider Jeff Sneider shared some of what he's heard about the changes being made to the show.
We've previously heard that roughly nine episodes of Daredevil: Born Again were shot before production ended up being halted; now, that's been whittled down to roughly six episodes' worth of material, with new showrunner Dario Scardapane (The Punisher) enlisted to make sense of it all.
That's included writing and directing a new pilot episode and the plan is still for the eighteen-episode series to be split into two halves. Why isn't the second half being referred to as season 2? "Contractual obligations," apparently, and likely a means of paying those in front and behind the camera less money.
Sneider would go on to reiterate that there's going to be roughly a year between each batch of episodes, suggesting the series will still be shooting when we all sit down to watch the premiere.
As for how Daredevil: Born Again ties into Netflix's Daredevil, Rocha explained that while the shows are now considered canon, not everything is being carried over. Instead, Marvel Studios will continue to pick and choose what it wants from the past without being beholden to Marvel Television's creative decisions.
"What was not going to be the same Daredevil from Netflix, is now going to be the same Daredevil from Netflix," the host explained, "with the asterisk of not everything is canon."
Thus far, we've seen Charlie Cox's Daredevil in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. The expectation initially was that those were meant to softly reboot the hero for the MCU but it's clearly not quite as simple!
"I really thought that ship had sailed," Cox said last year about his return as Daredevil. "I thought it was over and it had been a couple of years [since the Netflix series had ended]. What I didn't know was that there was an embargo on [the character] and the amount of time...I think it was probably two years, the amount of time after the show was canceled before Disney and Marvel could approach us. I didn't know that, so I thought it was over."
"And Vincent, who plays Wilson Fisk, he and I would chat occasionally on the phone, and he said I'm sure they're going to bring us back. And I'd be on the phone like, 'This guy is delusional, he's got to let it go,'" he continued. "And then during COVID, I went out for a walk with my wife and when I got back there was a voicemail and it said 'My name's Michelle, I'm Kevin Feige's assistant, can you give us a call.'"
The cast of the series includes Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/The Punisher, and Sandrine Holt as Vanessa Fisk. Michael Gandolfini, Margarita Levieva, Nikki M. James, Michael Gaston, Arty Froushan, and Clark Johnson have all been cast in undisclosed roles.
Daredevil: Born Again will likely premiere on Disney+ in 2025/2026.