Daredevil: Born Again Shutting Down Production Once More, In Major Trouble Now
Daredevil: Born Again was shut down by picketing writers.
Daredevil will have to be born again another day. As covered by The Hollywood Reporter, the Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again has once again been delayed by the WGA writers’ strike. This time, the production is shutting down indefinitely as it waits for the strike to end, along with DC and Max’s production of The Penguin
Daredevil: Born Again began filming in March 2023. Expected to last for eight months, the production hit a snag in May when picketing screenwriters prevented a shoot in Queens. Production resumed the following week and lasted for about one month before writers once again threw a wrench into the Daredevil revival.
The Penguin has suffered a similar fate, with picket lines forcing the show to send its crew home early. The spin-off of The Batman joins the ranks of high-profile projects halted by the strike.
Daredevil: Born Again is now gathering dust alongside Marvel projects Thunderbolts and Blade, which have also been indefinitely delayed. The latter films have not started production and are waiting for the strike to end in order to finish their scripts. Both The Penguin and Daredevil: Born Again are expected to hit streaming in 2024, while release dates for Thunderbolts and Blade continue to shift.
Marvel has walked a winding road with Daredevil. The character was licensed to Netflix for the streamer’s three-season run of Daredevil, the dark and gritty series that quickly became the definitive on-screen interpretation of the superhero.
Running from 2015 to 2018, the series starred Charlie Cox as Daredevil, Vincent D’Onofrio as the Kingpin, and Jon Bernthal as the Punisher, all of whom will reprise their roles in Daredevil: Born Again.
The new series has been described as a soft reboot. Though many principal cast members will return, several key characters will be absent in the new take. The show will approach its expanded 18-episode season with a lighter tone than its Netflix predecessor, spending more time following Daredevil’s alter ego, attorney Matt Murdock, as he fights crime in the courts.
Charlie Cox has been vocal about his support of Daredevil: Born Again. He was disappointed when the Netflix series was canceled; he and his castmates had expected to continue the show for another two seasons. Now he will get his chance.
Vincent D’Onofrio has already teased that Season 2 of Born Again is being developed, with big story payoffs on the way. D’Onofrio and Cox have both made official appearances in the MCU, with a Kingpin cameo in Hawkeye and Daredevil appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk.
Daredevil: Born Again was officially announced last summer at San Diego Comic-Con. Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige teased that Daredevil would go forward as one of the MCU’s “street level” heroes, along with characters like Spider-Man. Since the reveal, Born Again has been one of the most anticipated projects on Marvel’s slate.
Though many are excited about the project, many more are skeptical of the new series. In general, enthusiasm for Marvel films has dwindled within the franchise’s fanbase in recent years. Beyond that, many fans of the Netflix series are concerned that Daredevil: Born Again will strip the character of the grit that made his previous outing so compelling.
Marvel fans are counting on Daredevil: Born Again to stay true to the character while widening its audience. There are a lot of great Daredevil stories to tell, and even more when he teams with other street-level superheroes. But those stories can only be told with writers, and not even Daredevil is brash enough to cross a picket line.
