Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, TV | Tagged: daredevil, daredevil: born again

Daredevil Stars Were Concerned About Original "Born Again" Direction

Daredevil: Born Again star Charlie Cox on he and Vincent D'Onofrio having early doubts about the show's direction and how things changed.

As we inch closer to the premiere of Showrunner Dario Scardapane and Marvel Television's Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock) and Vincent D'Onofrio (Wilson Fisk/Kingpin)-starring Daredevil: Born Again, we're getting some insights into how the series came together, what led to the show's big creative change, and how Cox and D'Onofrio had their doubts about the show's direction early on. In a GQ profile piece/interview, Cox noted that the original plan was to make sure that "Born Again" was a series in its own right and not connected with the Netflix series. "The thinking was, 'Well, we don't want to do the same thing. We've done that,'" Cox shared. As rumblings about doubts concerning the direction that showrunners Matt Corman and Chris Ord were going in with the story, a number of casting/recasting decisions did not sit well with the fans – or Cox and D'Onofrio. "Vincent and I were both not 100 percent convinced what we were doing at the time was the right path, but we're both good soldiers and professionals, and we were trying to be open-minded," Cox revealed.

Ironically, it would be the Writers Guild of America (WGA) going on strike in May 2023 that would prove to be a silver lining in this incredibly cloudy situation. With production halted at the point where six episodes had been filmed (though not necessarily finished), there was some time for the producers to look at what they had so far – and they weren't impressed. "The writers' strike happened, then the actors' strike, which gave the producers an opportunity to look at our episodes and decide that it wasn't quite working," Cox shared, adding later in the interview, "in a bizarre twist of fate, the strikes that were so terrible for so many people in the industry ended up being the best thing that happened for our particular show."

That was when Scardapane was hired to replace Corman and Ord. Since then, the Marvel Television and Disney+ series has embraced its Netflix past by bringing back several familiar faces on both sides of the camera. In addition, some previously filmed material was edited to fit the series' new direction, and three new episodes were added to the run. "We made it known that we were not happy, and the big bosses, especially Kevin [Feige], listened to us," D'Onofrio shared, leading to a series that Cox says "feels much more in keeping with the kind of stuff we did at Netflix."

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