9 things to know about Daredevil: Born Again, according to showrunner Dario Scardapane

Seven years ago, Charlie Cox’s world was rocked. Preparations had begun for the fourth season of Daredevil when Netflix, seemingly out of nowhere, decided to pull the plug.

The series that had been part of Cox’s life for almost five years was over and Matt Murdock’s story would remain unfinished. But then, two years later, Kevin Feige called. The Marvel boss wanted to know whether Cox would return as the blind vigilante lawyer in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk.

Those two projects were filmed in 2021, but it wasn’t until January 2022, following the release of the rapturously received No Way Home, that Marvel decided Daredevil deserved a second chance going solo. What followed could have easily been dubbed The Year of The Devil: the original Netflix series moved to Disney+, a revival series was announced at San Diego Comic-Con, and Matt got lucky in She-Hulk.

Come 2023, the cameras started rolling on Born Again and everything was going smoothly – until, that is, the actors’ strike. With production forced to pause, Marvel took a long, hard look at the already filmed six episodes and realised something shocking: it simply wasn’t working.

And yet, this week, Daredevil is born again. Kicking off on Disney+ on March 5th, Daredevil: Born Again brings the old gang back for a hotly anticipated fourth season. So how did the team get the much-loved show over the finish line? We talk to showrunner Dario Scardapane on the show’s triumphant return.

1. A creative overhaul saved the day

What do you do when your most eagerly anticipated superhero show is in a tailspin? Cue a creative overhaul, and bring back the old guard. This started with head writers Matt Corman and Chris Ord being replaced by The Punisher alumnus Dario Scardapane.

“[The existing footage] had some really strong points,” Scardapane explains, “but it wasn’t feeling in line with what Daredevil had been established to be.”

The problems stemmed from Born Again trying to continue elements of the Netflix series while also soft-rebooting it. The character Vanessa – wife of the villainous Wilson Fisk – had been recast, while rumours spread online that Foggy Nelson and Karen Page, Murdock’s best friends, were killed off in the premiere.

2. Daredevil’s TV show, old and new, is now MCU canon

To fix things, Scardapane and Marvel made a pivotal decision: Netflix's Daredevil (along with the other Defenders shows) would officially become part of MCU canon.

A new pilot was shot, this one acting as a bridge between season three and the events of Born Again. The other six episodes were retooled, new scenes were shot, the 18-episode season was split into two nine-episode seasons, and Ayeley Zurer, the original Vanessa, was brought back.

This, however, created another problem. Scardapane didn't want new viewers to have to watch the Netflix series to understand Born Again. Luckily, the answer was right in front of him.

"At the very end of the Netflix show, Foggy, Karen and Matt had a dream written out on the back of a napkin," the showrunner says. "We start with that dream. It's not a dream that needs too much explanation; three good friends go into business together."

He also felt that Daredevil's origin story didn't need retelling.

"It's very obvious early on that he is a blind man with something up about him. It's very, very early on that you realise, due to a certain amount of generational trauma, he has a pretty advanced sense of justice.

"The animosity between him and Kingpin has been there for so long, the actors carry it with them in every scene. You don't have to say, 'Oh, they're each other's main nemesis? You just craft a scene where they're essentially threatening each other."

3. A tragedy of epic proportions

"This, in many ways, without sounding overly pretentious, is a Greek tragedy," Scardapane says. "The villain wins, is the best way of putting it. We see Fisk, finally, for many different reasons, consolidate power in a manner that we've never seen before. At the same time, Matt is wrestling with his alter ego. He's asking, 'Am I Daredevil? Am I Matt Murdock?' It's the first time we see a Matt Murdock who's on the back foot and more reactive to the bold moves of Kingpin."

Kingpin - the colossal, terrifying crime lord played by Vincent D'Onofrio - was last seen in Disney+ TV show Echo, watching a news report highlighting New York's open-field mayoral race. Scardapane won't confirm whether Fisk will run for mayor, merely saying he makes "a very bold move for power" and emphasises how Kingpin is the hero of his own "completely deluded" story.

"There is more fun in the moments with these characters and a lot less navel-gazing than before," he adds. "The earlier show, at its best, was fantastic. At its worst, it was two characters in a room talking about what a hero is. I felt that had been done. I'm not taking swipes. I just didn't want to hear characters grousing about their lot in life. I wanted to see them doing things."

4. A touch of Sopranos, a dash of The Penguin

Having previously worked on The Punisher, Scardapane knows a thing or two about how those earlier Marvel Netflix shows worked.

"One of our edicts was longer scenes," he says. "You had these long five-page scenes of characters hashing it out in order to make space between these massive action sequences. The way stuff has evolved since then, we're able to do big action sequences at a lot more pace.”

"I really feel that Netflix's Daredevil, which I know in my blood, was much more noir, and this show is more New York crime story," he continues.

"It has elements of The Sopranos and King Of New York. There's a feeling for those classic '90s crime tales.

"It has a pace and a scope that, for a lot of reasons, Netflix wasn't able to do. They were very dark, cinematically, not necessarily story-wise, although there were some dark elements. We're much darker. This is as far as a Disney+ show has ever gone."

If that sounds similar to DC's The Penguin, it’s a point not lost on the Daredevil team.

"It's really strange," Scardapane says. "You work in a vacuum and then something else comes out, and you go, 'Oh, wow? I would say, in many ways, The Penguin is our direct competition. However, we're even more grounded, even less stylised, even more rooted in the here and now. I loved Penguin. We're a little faster, meaner, cleaner in our storytelling."

5. Daredevil’s impact on the wider MCU — including his love life

Born Again being described as “less stylised” will raise a few eyebrows; after all, this version of Murdock has fought alongside an attorney who happens to turn into a hulking green giant when she’s angry. In fact, whereas the previous iteration of Daredevil had little impact on the overall MCU, this show has real consequences.

“Marvel has a master plan, and what you’re doing causes ripple effects,” Scardapane explains. “I would pitch stuff very early and I would hear that they had other plans. I have plenty of leeway up until I hit the larger-scale plan for the MCU. So I try to ignore some stuff [from the wider universe].

“We establish a very specific Daredevil, both in terms of his dilemma, down to the suit and where we’re picking him up in his life. You can say that Daredevil is canon in the MCU, those other events [in Spider-Man and She-Hulk] happened, but some of them we are not leaning into. His one-night stand with She-Hulk may be one of those things.”

6. Fan favourites and familiar faces…

Daredevil will be coming up against some familiar faces in Born Again. First, there’s Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, who previously debuted in the second season of Daredevil, then there’s Ms Marvel’s father.

“They’ve moved Matt through other corners of the MCU, and now he’s back in his own story,” Scardapane says. “I don’t want to give anything away, but you’re going to see a character [in our show] you never thought you would, but they get folded into the story in a manner that is organic and exists in our world. New York, in the current state of the MCU, has a lot of stuff going on.”

Bringing back Punisher was a thrill for Scardapane – he was planning a third season of Frank Castle’s series before it was cancelled – and Born Again was a chance to settle some unfinished business.

Similarly, there’s now an opportunity to bring back other Netflix characters, including Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Scardapane won’t detail who’s on the agenda but will wax lyrical about the return of Foggy and Karen.

“Karen Page is the heart and soul of this mythology, there’s no two ways about it,” he says. “You get so much more out of Daredevil as a character, as a human being, when there’s interaction with Karen. We’ve brought her back in a way that gives stakes. Karen and Foggy are the family structure for our orphan Matt, and it was very important to have them. Foggy tends to be comic relief, and Karen tends to be something else entirely.

“And you know, all those rumours are true. None of them are true. I refer people to the comic books where the fate of both those characters has happened many times in different ways.”

7. …and a bunch of new additions

With the core crew re-assembled, it’s also time to introduce some new blood into the Daredevil mix. There are a handful of new characters set to be introduced, including Michael Gandolfini’s Fisk protégé “who gets pulled into a world he barely understands.” Name sound familiar? Yep, that’s the son of Soprano’s legend, the late James Gandolfini — Michael played a young Tony Soprano, the role his father made famous, in The Many Saints of Newark prequel movie, strengthening the thematic tie between Sopranos and Daredevil.

There’s also a big tease around a member of law enforcement who works with Murdock.

“They’re called Cherry, played by... a walking Easter egg is the best way of putting it,” Scardapane says.

8. The darkest Marvel show… ever?

Matt’s relationship with the law in Born Again highlights how his conscience isn’t exactly clear.

“The conflict between the lawyer who seeks justice in the courtroom and the vigilante who seeks justice on the street has been well travelled, and we’re flipping that on its head,” Scardapane says.

“We had this idea that, when the system is corrupt and illegal, the only justice comes from outlaws. Now, everything Daredevil does is completely illegal, but it’s the only way to reset the balance. He’s integrating both sides of himself. We explore that way deeper and way darker than was ever done before.”

There’s that word again: dark. Cox and D’Onofrio use it multiple times in conversation and highlight how fans have been calling for Born Again to continue Daredevil’s penchant for violence and corridor fights.

“There is a scene this season that is straight out bat-shit and way farther past anything Netflix ever did and it’s absolutely earned,” says Scardapane.

“When you have violence for violence’s sake, it gets boring. With Kingpin particularly, you have to remind people that this large, imposing, extremely entertaining individual is the villain, and we do that in a big way.”

9. There’s much, much more Daredevil to come

If you’re hankering for more Daredevil already, you’ll be pleased to hear that work has already started on season two, making Born Again only the second live-action Marvel Studios series to land a follow-up. That’s partly because the studio has changed its philosophy when it comes to television.

“They had used a model that, for better or worse, was TV shows split into six-hour movies. This is a serialised television show,” Scardapane says.

“Each season ends in a place that you could walk away. But you could also go in a new direction.

“This push and pull with Fisk and Matt had become almost stasis, and we’ve created something that moves it, that has a different vibe, a different dynamic, that can twist and turn, and it’s got legs.

“I always say that TV shows are like running a marathon,” he continues. “You run at a sprint and then they put a bullet in your head at the end. You just keep going until the show is cancelled or it finds its end. And we’re not done yet. I don’t think the story of Karen Page, Matt Murdock and Frank Castle will ever be over.”

Daredevil: Born Again streams exclusively from March 5th on Disney+

• This article is adapted from SFX, issue 388 the world's number one sci-fi, fantasy and horror magazine. Additional words by Gerald Lynch.