Charlie Cox made his debut as Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, in 2015 on Netflix. His Daredevil show was an instant hit, prompting the streamer to build out an entire 'Defenders Saga' with characters such as Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage. However, after three successful seasons, Daredevil was ultimately cancelled, and the Defenders Saga was subsequently relocated to Disney+.
In the years since, Disney+ has held the rights to the Defenders Saga, and Daredevil characters have made a few cameos elsewhere in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Cox's Daredevil first popped up in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and later had a more substantial role in She-Hulk before briefly appearing in Echo. Now, Daredevil will soon mark his triumphant return with his very own MCU series, Daredevil: Born Again, in 2025. Vincent D'Onofrio's has also returned as the villainous Kingpin.
The upcoming 18-episode rebooted season is one of the MCU's most anticipated of 2025. According to Cox, it was a huge surprise to him that Disney wanted to pick it back up. “I never thought it would be a TV show again. I just assumed that we'd done that, so maybe it would be something else,” Cox told Entertainment Weekly. “So I was shocked when they told me in 2022 that we were going to do a show, but I was also thrilled. It's such a great medium for this character. There is so much story left to tell. So the more time we have to do that, the better!”
Cox was always receptive to continuing the story firmly within in the MCU continuity, but it was absolutely necessary to retain the tone of the original series. “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,” he explained.
Not only does Born Again refuse to compromise the identity of Daredevil, but the new season doubles down on the dark and sinister nature of the original, as Cox explained:
"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."
There's been some uncertainty about whether a show produced by the famously family-friend Disney corporation can really give fans the darkness and grittiness they want out of a Daredevil revival, but if Cox and D'Onofrio really pushed for it behind the scenes, there's hope.
Daredevil: Born Again sees the return of Matt Murdock's original beloved team, including Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll). And of course the Kingpin is back as well. The show premieres March 4, 2025 on Disney+.
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