We’re just a couple of weeks away from the release of Daredevil: Born Again, the upcoming Marvel series that will see the return of not just Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, but also several other characters who first appeared in the Daredevil series produced for Netflix. Considering that originally there were no plans to bring back the supporting cast, it made coming back together all the sweeter for them.
Daredevil: Born Again underwent a major overhaul during production and while a lot of the details of exactly what changed have not been confirmed, what we know is that stars Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio voiced their displeasure with the direction of the show, and then that direction changed. Speaking with EW, Charlie Cox says that initially not having Deborah Ann Woll and Eldon Henson involved felt “painful,” but having them on set was “healing…”
They hadn’t been there, and that felt painful and odd. I’d spoken with them both and told them what I knew and what I understood to be happening, but for them to then be on set, walking down the street, reminiscing over the past in the scene as well as behind the scenes, it was quite emotional. We were in Hell’s Kitchen, which was bizarre. We didn’t really shoot in Hell’s Kitchen previously. But we actually happened to be coming out of a storefront and there were lots of fans on the street. It was healing.
The Hollywood Writers’ Strike may have been the best thing to happen to Daredevil: Born Again. The strike forced the show to shut down mid-production and it was during this hiatus that the problem was discovered. It sounds like the series was trying to straddle a line between being a follow-up to the Netflix series and being a reboot. It was decided the show needed to pick a lane.
Executive producer Sana Amanat tells EW that the characters of Karen and Foggy, played by Moll and Henson, weren’t completely ignored in the original version of Born Again, but they clearly wouldn’t have appeared, at least in the first season. When that view changed and the actors were brought back in, fans got very excited. Woll says sitting with her castmates again was a moment of “absolute joy…”
We’re just looking at each other. We’re like, ‘Guys! We’re back. We’re here again. Can you believe it?’ I don’t know, just the joy, the absolute joy… I’m having good tinglies just thinking about it.
It seems most fans felt the same way. The Netflix Daredevil series was generally well-regarded and nobody seemed to be looking for a reinvention. By all accounts, the new series will very much feel like Season 4 of Daredevil, including potentially being one of the most violent things you can watch with a Disney+ subscription. Daredevil: Born Again debuts March 4.