The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Marvel Studios has found a new showrunner for Daredevil: Born Again, enlisting Dario Scardapane (The Punisher; Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan) to captain the series to its finish line.
While Marvel will keep some scenes and footage from completed episodes, the show will be undergoing drastic changes in favor of a darker direction, more akin to its Netflix predecessor, when filming eventually resumes. Scardapane, who worked on both seasons of The Punisher, has been tasked with penning the new episodes as well as writing new scenes to combine with the footage the studio already has in the bank.
The studio has also tapped Loki directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead to helm the remaining episodes of the hotly-awaited Disney+ series, which will feature the return of Charlie Cox as the Man Without Fear. The directing duo has received widespread acclaim for their work on the ongoing second season of Loki, with their most recent episode currently sitting as the top-rated installment of the entire series on IMDb.
When announced, it was widely reported that the first season would consist of 18 episodes, but it sounds like that is no longer the case as the creative team reworks the entire series. Whether that means more or fewer chapters remains to be seen, but it's something we'll keep an eye on moving forward, although, considering Marvel Studios' new stance on Disney+ content, we wouldn't necessarily be surprised if they ultimately decided to tighten up that episode order.
Due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, filming will remain paused for the foreseeable future, and based on these latest developments, it's very likely that, even if the strike were to end tomorrow, production probably wouldn't be able to kickstart filming right away, until, at least, Scardapane breaks down the first few episodes.
In addition to Cox as Matt Murdock, the supporting cast consists of Vincent D'Onofrio as the Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/Punisher, Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn, Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blade, Sandrine Holt as Vanessa Fisk, Nikki M. James as Kirsten McDuffie, Genneya Walton as BB Urich, Clark Johnson as Cherry, Arty Froushan as Buck Cashman, Zabryna Guevara as Sheila Rivera, Michael Gaston, Marc Geller, and Harris Yulin.
With the plot being revamped, it's fair to wonder whether some of what we've heard about the series could be changed, possibly even bringing back characters that weren't part of the first iteration of the show or adding a few more surprises for fans.
Daredevil: Born Again is tentatively scheduled to stream, exclusively on Disney+, in Early 2025.