Marvel Studios' original plan was for Daredevil: Born Again to be completely separate from Netflix's Daredevil. That meant killing Foggy Nelson off-screen, no Karen Page, and a new Vanessa Fisk in House of Cards star Sandrine Holt.
We still don't know why Ayelet Zurer would be recast and can only assume it was because Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio were the only original actors wanted for the revival.
Talking to TV Line about her return - which came as a result of Daredevil: Born Again's creative overhaul - Zurer said, "I never really quite understood why they made that decision to not keep not just me but more almost all the actors but Vincent and Charlie. But I can say that when they did change the creative and decided to go back to the original cast, I was very, very happy to join."
"I really like that character, and I thought there was so much more to explore with her," she continued before admitting that she's "not sure" how many Wilson Fisk/Vanessa scenes were reshot after being enlisted by new showrunner Dario Scardapane. "I wasn’t interested," she acknowledged, but was "at first taken aback by the shift had happened within Vanessa."
"I was like, 'How is that going to work?' But once we dove in, I found Vanessa to be a way deeper character, because she is dealing with some new aspects of their relationship - trust, and honesty - that it made it very interesting for me to find ways to perform it," the actor noted.
In related news, Variety has revealed that Luminate data confirms Daredevil: Born Again had one of the "stronger debuts" of the current phase of MCU shows. While Disney+ announced 7.5 million views in its first five days - putting it behind Agatha All Along and The Acolyte, for example - this report explains, "Luminate data on daily minutes watched for the current 'phase' of live-action MCU shows so far puts 'Born Again' toward the front of the pack."
The trade explains that, while first-day viewership was indeed on par with Agatha All Along and slightly below the likes of Secret Invasion and Loki, those "starred longtime MCU characters who have made numerous appearances in the movies, while 'Loki' S2 and 'Agatha' were continuations of two of the most popular MCU/Disney+ shows."
Between Daredevil: Born Again's TV-MA rating and the fact it's pulling in numbers similar to familiar friendly shows, "the wager is paying off." In fact, Daredevil seasons 1, 2, and 3 enjoyed a 153% increase in hours watched before and after the premiere and numbers like those are exactly what streamers are looking for.
It's no wonder then that Daredevil: Born Again is being planned as a multi-season series. Season 2 is already shooting in New York and we'd imagine season 3 news will come shortly after the first batch of episodes finishes streaming.
Daredevil: Born Again's first three episodes are now streaming on Disney+.