Background The television series
Daredevil, based on the
Marvel Comics character
Daredevil and produced by
Marvel Television and
ABC Studios, premiered on
Netflix in April 2015, and lasted for three seasons until its cancellation in November 2018. Netflix said the three seasons would remain on the service, while the title character would "live on in future projects for Marvel".
Deadline Hollywood noted that, unlike some of the other
Marvel series on Netflix that were also canceled, "the door seems to be wide open" for the series to continue elsewhere, potentially on Disney's streaming service
Disney+. However,
The Hollywood Reporter said this was unlikely, especially since, as reported by
Variety, the original deal between Marvel and Netflix stipulated that the characters could not appear in any non-Netflix series or films for at least two years following the cancellation of
Daredevil.
Kevin A. Mayer, chairman of
Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International, said there was a possibility that Disney+ could
revive the series but this had not yet been discussed.
Hulu's senior vice president of originals, Craig Erwich, said his streaming service was also open to reviving the series. Star
Charlie Cox was saddened by the cancellation, explaining that he was excited by the plans for a fourth season, which he and the rest of the cast and crew had expected to be made. He was hopeful there would be an opportunity to portray
Matt Murdock / Daredevil again in some form.
Amy Rutberg, who portrayed
Marci Stahl in the series, said the cast and crew had expected it to last for five seasons, with a new antagonist being introduced in the fourth season before a final showdown between Daredevil and
Vincent D'Onofrio's
Wilson Fisk / Kingpin in the fifth. When
Marvel Studios began discussions about continuing the
Daredevil franchise within their
shared universe, the
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), studio president
Kevin Feige insisted they bring back Cox and D'Onofrio, feeling the pair were as "inextricably linked" to their characters as MCU actors
Robert Downey Jr. and
Chris Evans were to
Tony Stark / Iron Man and
Steve Rogers / Captain America, respectively. Feige contacted Cox in June 2020 about reprising his role as Murdock in the MCU, and he announced that Cox was returning for future Marvel Studios projects in December 2021. Cox first reprised his role in the film
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), while D'Onofrio first reprised his role as Fisk in the Disney+ series
Hawkeye (2021).
Daredevil was moved from Netflix to Disney+ in March 2022 after Netflix's license for the series ended and Disney regained the rights.
Development Initial work Marvel Studios decided to make a new Daredevil-led series in January 2022, following the appearances of Cox in
No Way Home and D'Onofrio in
Hawkeye. Cox discussed such a series in March, believing it should begin a few years after the end of the previous series and be "re-imagined". Regarding whether it should be rated
TV-MA as the Netflix series was, he believed Marvel Studios would be able to create a faithful version of the character without that rating. However, he found the comics "more exciting, readable, relatable when it lives in a darker space" such as
Brian Michael Bendis and
Alex Maleev's
run on the comics, and he felt important attributes of the character such as his age,
Catholic guilt, and history with women were more mature subjects. Cox was hopeful that a new series could have a more faithful adaptation of the 1986 comic book storyline "
Born Again" by
Frank Miller and
David Mazzucchelli, which the original series took inspiration from for its
third season. He described the storyline as "kind of a PG comic" and a guide for how the series could work with that rating. Later in March, a
Daredevil reboot series was reported to be in development with Marvel Studios' Feige and
Chris Gary as producers. The series was confirmed to be in development for Disney+ in late May, with Matt Corman and Chris Ord attached as
head writers and executive producers.
The Hollywood Reporter and
Deadline Hollywood both described it as a fourth season of the original series. During the 2022
San Diego Comic-Con in July, the series was officially announced as
Daredevil: Born Again and was revealed to have 18 episodes for its first season. Cox said an 18-episode series was a "huge undertaking" and was chosen in part due to the many story possibilities that come with Murdock being a lawyer. Christian Holub at
Entertainment Weekly believed the title was a reference to the character "literally being 'born again' into the official MCU" rather than the series being an adaptation of the "Born Again" storyline. Cox described
Born Again as a "whole new thing" and not a fourth season of the Netflix series, which he felt was "the way to go. If you are going to do it again, do it differently." D'Onofrio reiterated this, saying they had few plans to connect to the original. He added that they were working on two seasons and there would be "gigantic payoffs" during the second. Directors were hired for blocks of episodes:
Michael Cuesta joined in March 2023 to direct the first two episodes;
Jeffrey Nachmanoff joined in May to direct the third and fourth episodes;
David Boyd directed the fifth and sixth episodes; and
Clark Johnson, a director on the Marvel Netflix series
Luke Cage (2016–2018), also joined in May to direct another two episodes.
Creative overhaul By late September 2023, while production was on hold due to the
2023 Hollywood labor disputes, Marvel Studios decided to overhaul the series with a new creative direction. Filming for six episodes was largely completed by then. The studio reviewed that footage and decided
Born Again "wasn't working". Corman and Ord were let go as head writers, as were the directors for the remainder of the series, and the studio began searching for new writers and directors.
The Hollywood Reporter reported that Corman and Ord's episodic take was a large divergence from the Netflix series, including that Cox did not appear in costume as Daredevil until the fourth episode. Marvel planned to retain some elements that had been shot, add new
serialized elements, and move closer to the tone of the Netflix series. Corman and Ord would still be credited as executive producers. Cox and D'Onofrio had not been convinced that the original approach was working, with Cox saying it was confusing that
Born Again was not a direct continuation of the Netflix series or a complete reboot.
Brad Winderbaum, the head of streaming, television, and animation at Marvel Studios, said the studio believed they could "play it loose" with the history of
Daredevil, wanting to keep Cox and D'Onofrio but otherwise "reset" to avoid alienating new viewers. Cox said Daredevil and Kingpin were essentially being treated like alternate universe "variants", a concept from previous MCU projects, but he said some people did not understand this and found the approach to be disingenuous. The studio realized they had to either fully embrace the Netflix series or start over fresh. D'Onofrio said Feige in particular listened to him and Cox when the pair expressed their concerns.
Dario Scardapane, a writer on Netflix's
Daredevil spin-off series
The Punisher (2017–2019), was hired to serve as
showrunner for
Born Again in October 2023. This came after Marvel changed its approach to television production to have more traditional showrunners rather than head writers. Filmmaking duo
Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who previously worked on the Marvel Studios series
Moon Knight (2022) and the
second season of
Loki (2023), were hired to direct the remaining episodes of the first season. Soon after Scardapane joined, the creative team decided that
Born Again should harken back to the tone of the Netflix series and continue storylines from it, rather than be a complete reset. Cox said there was a "fine balance to strike" with this approach, but thought the new creative direction had a good reason for "remaking it" while still being familiar to what came before. In November 2023, Benson and Moorhead said they were reviewing the existing footage and looking to prior Daredevil content, including the Netflix series, to inform the foundation of their direction. They said they were fans of Miller's "Born Again" run, and Benson said he was a fan of Daredevil as a child despite not being "a huge comic book guy". The duo said this was their first MCU project where they were able to find their footing early on after being "thrown in the deep end" with
Moon Knight and
Loki. They were also more comfortable working with the more grounded style of
Born Again, which is similar to their
independent films, compared to the "mind-bending sci-fi affairs" of those previous MCU projects. Moorhead described
Born Again stakes as "primal and graspable". D'Onofrio said the directors were Marvel's "hottest talent", and he was confident the series would work after they joined. His friend and
Moon Knight co-star
Ethan Hawke told D'Onofrio about his positive experience working with the pair, and D'Onofrio was also a fan of their work on
Loki, particularly how they handled violence. Three new episodes were written, including a new
pilot episode, as well as additional scenes for the previously shot episodes. Cox confirmed in May 2024 that nine episodes had been filmed, which Feige said was the
first season of
Born Again. Cuesta, Nachmanoff, and Boyd were re-confirmed to be credited directors for the series in August 2024. Some of their episodes had "some rejiggering, and [new] framing, and bookends" added while others were left "100% intact". Nachmanoff and Boyd returned to film new footage for the existing episodes and assisted Benson and Moorhead with blending the style of the original episodes with the lead directors' new material. Cox said the new version of the series was more in line with the Netflix series, while D'Onofrio said he and others who worked on the previous version of
Born Again were pleased with the new iteration. Also in August 2024, Feige announced that a
second season was planned; with the creative overhaul, it was decided that the planned 18-episode season would be split into two, nine-episode seasons. In February 2025, Scardapane, Benson, and Moorhead were confirmed to be returning for the second season, and Scardapane described its production as a "better-oiled machine". He said the second season would just be eight episodes. Additional directors for the season include
Solvan "Slick" Naim, Angela Barnes, and
Iain B. MacDonald. In February 2025, Winderbaum said the series could continue beyond the second season, and that May he said the strong audience response to the first season gave Marvel Studios the confidence to make the series "annually into the future". In July, D'Onofrio said the studio had plans for a
third season but an official renewal was dependent on audience responses to the second season. D'Onofrio reiterated a month later that both he and Cox believed a third season was likely, while
Variety reported that chances of a third season renewal were "promising". Winderbaum confirmed the third season renewal in September, with Scardapane returning as showrunner. Benson, Moorhead, and MacDonald returned as directors. Executive producers for
Born Again include Marvel Studios' Feige,
Louis D'Esposito, Winderbaum, and
Sana Amanat, alongside Scardapane, Benson, and Moorhead. Additional executive producers include Marvel Studios' Gary as well as Corman and Ord for the first season, and MacDonald, Cox, and D'Onofrio for the second. Scardapane, Corman, and Ord are credited as the series' creators. David Chambers serves as producer for the second season. The series is released under Marvel Studios' "
Marvel Television" label.
Writing The initial take on the series was described as a legal
procedural. Cox said it was dark but not as gory as the Netflix series. He wanted to take what worked from
Daredevil and broaden it for
Born Again to appeal to a younger audience. Feige said the studio was hoping to experiment with more episodic, "self-contained" episodes, unlike some of their
Phase Four series that had a larger story split across multiple episodes. According to Cox, early discussions for the series were about "reinvent[ing] the whole thing" and portraying Murdock as a different person from the one seen in the Netflix series. Murdock's friends
Franklin "Foggy" Nelson and
Karen Page were largely not acknowledged in this version. Amanat said the creative team struggled to incorporate them into the story, but Cox said there were discussions to do some "cool stuff" with them in the future. Following the creative overhaul, serialized elements were set to be added. Scardapane said several elements in the original version worked well, but he felt there were storylines that needed to be added along with context from the Netflix series. His pilot acts as a bridge between the Netflix series and
Born Again, beginning a few years after the end of
Daredevil with Murdock, Nelson, and Page running
their law firm and having a "pretty good rhythm" together. Winderbaum said Marvel Studios' approach to connecting
Born Again with the Netflix series after the creative overhaul was influenced by how
Loki and the animated series ''
X-Men '97'' (2024–present) honored prior iterations of their characters to establish new storylines. The cast said the events of the Netflix series were part of their characters' histories, and there are some new storylines that build on the original's events, but they did not want to dwell too much on past events or alienate new viewers who did not watch the Netflix series. Cox praised Scardapane's balance between respecting the Netflix series and not relying on that history too much. Co-star
Jon Bernthal said any large diversions to the characters from the past were done for a reason, not simply for the sake of trying a different idea. Some of Scardapane's early ideas for the series were turned down due to Marvel Studios' larger plans for the MCU, but he otherwise had "leeway" to tell a specific Daredevil story. The character's appearances in
Daredevil,
No Way Home, and the Disney+ series
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) are part of his history, but the series does not lean into all of those events. Scardapane said Marvel had "moved Matt through other corners of the MCU, and now he's back in his own story", which has a more serious tone. Describing some of
Born Again differences from the Netflix series, Scardapane said the new series would have more fun character moments and "a lot less navel-gazing" than the original. He felt that series had been at its worst when featuring "two characters in a room talking about what a hero is" and was more interested in showing the characters doing things. Scardapane described
Born Again as a "New York crime story", compared to the
noir tone of the original series, taking inspiration from the series
The Sopranos (1999–2007), the film
King of New York (1990), and other crime media from the 1990s. Winderbaum likened
Born Again to the series
Game of Thrones (2011–2019) because it features "multiple factions [in New York City] vying for power in really complex ways". Another difference from
Daredevil is the pace of episodes, with Scardapane explaining that there was an edict for the Marvel Netflix series to feature longer character scenes between their action sequences. This was not a requirement for
Born Again which allowed the creative team to give it a pace and scope that the Netflix series were unable to. D'Onofrio said
Born Again would have a similar tone and feel to the Disney+ series
Echo (2024), and Scardapane said it would be darker than
Daredevil which he felt only had some dark elements. Despite using the
Born Again subtitle, the series does not directly adapt that storyline or others from the comics. It also does not incorporate any of the planned material for the fourth season of
Daredevil. At the beginning of
Born Again, Murdock has not been Daredevil for a year after a "line was crossed", when
Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter / Bullseye kills Nelson and Murdock tries to kill Dex in return. Amanat believed killing Nelson, who is Murdock's moral compass, was "the only thing that made sense" when telling a story about Murdock starting a new life without being Daredevil. Cox felt Nelson's death was an appropriate way to start the series, believing the new story needed to be "big, brave, and bold" and "shake things up" from the original. The series sees Fisk being elected
mayor of New York City, after learning of the need for a strong candidate in the
post-credits scene of
Echo. Scardapane said the series was a "two-hander", exploring both Murdock and Fisk. Though Fisk is the "prime villain", the series features other antagonists who Scardapane said would be "piling up" as the story continues. These include the serial killer
Muse, whose storyline continues into the second season. Scardapane said the Mayor Fisk storyline was fun to explore but became too topical and moved the series away from "the large, mythological genre stuff" from the comics. He said the storyline would end with the second season and future seasons would return to the tone and street-level storytelling of Frank Miller's
Daredevil comics. Scardapane felt the first two seasons were "Part 1" and "Part 2" of the same story, noting that there was also a "Part 3" that might be explored in the future since the Murdock and Fisk story "[was not] done yet". Amanat added that the Murdock and Fisk storyline would "always be the heartbeat of this franchise... but there are also so many great characters and storylines" to also explore. Winderbaum said in February 2025 that Marvel Studios was open to bringing back more characters and elements from
Daredevil and the other Marvel Netflix series such as
Elektra Natchios,
the Hand, and Murdock's fellow
Defenders—
Jessica Jones,
Luke Cage, and
Danny Rand / Iron Fist. Scardapane said the writers had a wish list of characters they wanted to include in the series based on iconic comic book storylines, and each season they were able to include any of those characters who fit into the story they were telling and Marvel Studios' wider plans for the MCU. He added that
Born Agains tone was "very Frank Miller-esque" and that other
Daredevil writers and artists, such as
Chip Zdarsky and Brian Michael Bendis, have a "particular tone and a particular sweet spot" and some of the desired characters, such as Elektra or
Colleen Wing, "work in that sweet spot". Jessica Jones was confirmed to be appearing in the second season in May 2025. Luke Cage actor
Mike Colter said in January 2026 that there had been conversations about him reprising his role, and he was soon confirmed to be appearing in the third season alongside
Finn Jones as Danny Rand. Scardapane said he had been discussing bringing back Jessica Jones since he joined the series, and exploring her and Cage's family and world starting in the second season was "part of the plan since day one". The Hand will appear in the film
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026). Within the MCU, the first season is set after
Echo. The first episode begins in late 2025, before jumping ahead a year to late 2026. The season continues into early 2027, and shows
New Year's Eve and
Saint Patrick's Day celebrations. The second season begins around six months after the first season, and is concurrent with the events of the television special
The Punisher: One Last Kill (2026).
Casting Starring in the first season are Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin,
Margarita Levieva as
Heather Glenn,
Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page,
Elden Henson as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson,
Wilson Bethel as Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter / Bullseye,
Zabryna Guevara as
Sheila Rivera,
Nikki M. James as
Kirsten McDuffie,
Genneya Walton as
BB Urich,
Arty Froushan as
Buck Cashman,
Clark Johnson as
Cherry,
Michael Gandolfini as
Daniel Blake,
Ayelet Zurer as
Vanessa Fisk,
Kamar de los Reyes as
Hector Ayala / White Tiger, Jon Bernthal as
Frank Castle / Punisher,
Mohan Kapur as
Yusuf Khan, and
Tony Dalton as
Jack Duquesne / Swordsman. Before the creative overhaul, cast members from the Netflix series beyond Cox, D'Onofrio, and Bernthal were not expected to reprise their roles, and
Sandrine Holt was cast to replace Zurer as Vanessa. Zurer was brought back after the overhaul, along with Woll, Henson, and Bethel. Returning for the second season are Cox, D'Onofrio, Woll, Levieva, Dalton, Gandolfini, James, Froushan, Walton, Guevara, Johnson, Zurer, Bethel, and Henson. Joining them for the season are
Matthew Lillard as
Mr. Charles and
Lili Taylor as Marge McCaffrey. In addition,
Toby Leonard Moore and
Krysten Ritter reprised their respective roles from Marvel's Netflix television series as
James Wesley and Jessica Jones. Returning for the third season are Cox, D'Onofrio, Woll, Levieva, Bethel, Froushan, Guevara, and Ritter. Joining them for the season are Mike Colter and Finn Jones reprising their respective roles from Marvel's Netflix television series as Luke Cage and Danny Rand / Iron Fist.
Design Emily Gunshor was the
costume designer for the series, and Michael Shaw was the
production designer. Marvel Studios' head of visual development
Ryan Meinerding once again designed the Daredevil suit for
Born Again, after doing so for the Netflix series. The suit in
Born Again has a darker tone of red to reflect Murdock's evolution, along with black detailing and added texture, which was described as less "shiny" than the suit in the Netflix series.
Filming Filming for the series occurs at
Silvercup Studios East in
Queens, with location work throughout
New York. Hillary Fyfe Spera serves as cinematographer, with Pedro Gómez Millán doing so as well in the first season and
Jeffrey Waldron in the second. Production on the first season was halted by the
2023 Writers Guild of America strike.
Visual effects Gong Myung Lee is the series' visual effects supervisor, with visual effects for the first season provided by
Rise FX, FOLKS, Phosphene, Powerhouse VFX, Ghost VFX, Soho VFX,
Cantina Creative, Anibrain,
Base FX, SDFX, and
The Third Floor, Inc., and
Eyeline,
Storm Studios, Important Looking Pirates,
Lola Visual Effects, Phosphene, Curated, Anibrain, Cantina Creative, FOLKS, EDI Effetti Digitali Italiani, Ingenuity Studios, and Wylie Co. VFX.
Music In July 2024,
the Newton Brothers were revealed to be composing music for the series. They previously composed the score for ''X-Men '97
. The pair expressed their love for the Daredevil comics and for the main theme from the original Daredevil'' series, which was briefly re-used for Daredevil's appearances in
She-Hulk and the Disney+ animated series
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2025–present). The Newton Brothers' main theme for
Born Again incorporates the
Daredevil theme, originally composed by
John Paesano and Braden Kimball. It was released as a digital single by
Hollywood Records and
Marvel Music on March 4, 2025. The first season's score was released digitally in two volumes: music from the first four episodes was released on March 28, and music from the other five episodes was released on April 18. The second season score is being released digitally in two volumes: music from the first four episodes were released on April 7, and music for the other four episodes will be released later. == Release ==