Charlie Cox’s return to the MCU was first announced during the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con. Daredevil: Born Again got an official confirmation at the event and the filming of the series began before the Hollywood strikes put a halt to the production. During the strikes, Marvel Studios reconsidered the creative direction and overhauled the entire series with new directors and showrunner.
Cox’s words about the new direction will bring immense satisfaction to the OG fans of the Netflix show. Both Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio made appearances at the Disney TV Upfront event where the first trailer of the series was screened for a select few media personnel.
Charlie Cox Promises That The OG Show Fans Will Love Daredevil: Born Again
From the accounts of Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio at Disney Upfront 2024, it was clear that the original intended vision for Daredevil: Born Again had little connection to the Netflix version. However, the new show under Dario Scardapane will have a lot more connectivity with the three-season run of the OG show.
D’Onofrio, who has been a presence in recent MCU projects like Hawkeye and Echo, was definitely happy to reprise the role in the new series. His words truly depicted the difference between the originally planned version and the overhauled version of the new series. He shared at the event, “It originally wasn’t going to be at all, but now it’s a lot.” (via TV Insider)
Cox believed that it was the fans who influenced the change in direction of the new series. He shared that the studio had to listen to the fans since they were remaking a project that was successful and had a fan base.
He also credited the studio for finding the right balance between giving people what they liked and bringing the little changes into the new series. He hoped that the show would satisfy the same OG fans and find more new fans. Cox shared with TV Insider:
I think [it’s] the fans. I think [it’s] the studio as well. That’s a really fine balance to strike. If you’re going to remake a show and call it Season 1 and it was a successful show and it was kind of beloved, then you’ve got to do what people liked.
But also you’ve got to have a reason for remaking it. So you have to change it up a bit. And that’s just a really fine balance to find. I think that they’ve done a beautiful job doing that. And hopefully, the old fans – the O.G.s – will love it and also, we’ll maybe pick up a few more fans on the way.
The set photos of the new series were enough to make any Daredevil fans emotional as it saw the reunion of the trio played by Cox, Elden Henson, and Deborah Ann Woll. Other OG show actors including Wilson Bethel, Jon Bernthal, and Ayelet Zurer will also be a part of the new series.
Why Was The Initial Version Of Daredevil: Born Again So Different From The Netflix Show?
Following the announcement of the show in 2022, Charlie Cox told Extra TV that his belief was that the new show would be very different from the OG show. He suggested that the series would take its title literally and would be a set of “new stories and new ideas” about the titular character. He shared a conversation he had with Marvel boss Kevin Feige, who told him the following (via Extra TV):
It is a Season 1, it is not Season 4, so it is a whole new thing. Which I think is the way to go. If you are going to do it again, do it differently.
While Cox was ready to retell the story of Matt Murdock, he also respected the fans’ wish to not leave the fate of the Netflix show on the hanging. Interestingly, Marvel executives recently confirmed that the Netflix shows are canon to the MCU.
Fans of the OG Daredevil show can now stream it on Disney+.
