Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio Preview ‘Daredevil: Born Again’

by Justin Hermes · December 23, 2024

One of the most consequential Marvel events in recent memory was Kevin Feige’s decision last year to overhaul Daredevil: Born Again.

As a quick recap, Daredevil originally ran on Netflix from 2015 through 2018. Produced by Marvel Television, the series had a darker tone than the mainline Marvel movies.

Source: Marvel Studios

Lauded for its gritty story and action sequences, Daredevil starred Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Elden Henson as Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin.

The ‘Daredevi: Born Again’ Overhaul

When Marvel initially set out to revive Daredevil with Daredevil: Born Again, the studio seemed determined to distance the new show from its predecessor. While Cox and D’Onofrio were brought back into the MCU, the fate of the other Daredevil stars was ambiguous at best.

Source: Marvel Studios

During last year’s Hollywood strikes, however, production on Daredevil: Born Again was shut down. Reviewing the completed episodes, Kevin Feige and his team quickly determined that something needed to change.

The series subsequently went through a creative overhaul. When Daredevil: Born Again emerged, the show had been reimagined as a continuation of the original series.

“It had been conceived as more of a legal procedural. And we really brought it back towards an action-based New York crime story,” showrunner Dario Scardapane explained to EW.

Photo: Netflix

“The real trick was to have the DNA of the old Netflix show. But then push it forward into something very new.”

Cox and D’Onofrio Fought For a Darker Daredevil

In addition to bringing Daredevil: Born Again back to its Gotham roots, Marvel decided to tie the series into the original Netflix show. This not only opened the door for Woll and Henson to return but also led Marvel to deem the entire Netflix Defenders universe canon.

Source: Marvel Studios

While it now seemed that the Daredevil that fans knew and loved would return, Cox and D’Onofrio wanted to make sure that the series wasn’t watered down.

“The thing that we kept talking about was, this show has had the success that it’s had and has appealed to a very specific demographic because it’s one of the few superhero shows that is so dark and sinister at times,” Cox says.

“Vincent and I both felt like if you lose that, you are at risk of losing the identity of our show. So we really pushed for the show to remain geared towards an older audience and not dumbed down to kind of capture a wider net of people. I think in some ways it’s even darker than a lot of the stuff we’ve done in the past.”