Daredevil: Born Again is still on the upcoming Marvel TV shows slate, but MCU fans are going to have to wait longer for its arrival. In October, it was reported that as a result of Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and other bigwigs at the company being unimpressed by what had been shot so far for the Disney+ series, Born Again would go through a major behind-the-scenes overhaul. Two weeks later, it was revealed that Loki directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are among the new talent that have been brought in, and now they’ve shared an update on Born Again that’s left me torn.
Fresh off helming four of Loki Season 2’s six episodes, including the wacky and emotional Season 2 finale, Benson and Moorhead have been recruited to direct the remaining episodes of Daredevil: Born Again’s first season. However, as they shared with The Wrap, the duo are essentially starting from scratch with this project, with Benson first jokingly saying:
We have the best answer for you. So you see this space we’re in right now? This is our office and we just found out we have an office about 45 minutes ago. And that’s what we’re at with Daredevil.
Prior to this creative overhaul and the writers and actors strike grinding principal photography to a halt, under half of Born Again’s initial 18 episodes had been shot. While elements of those episodes will be retain in the final product, much of what had been envisioned for this series will now change, so it makes sense that Benson and Moorhead are only just getting started, especially considering that the writers and actors strikes only just recently concluded. The latter man then stated:
It is day zero. We’re currently just consuming Daredevil content, not just the Netflix show but all the possible material. We’re just making our stew of information nice and thick.
On the one hand, I’m slightly bummed that this back-to-the-drawing-board approach is being taken since, as mentioned earlier, it means Daredevil: Born Again will need to be pushed further back. On the other hand, as someone who’s been a fan of Marvel’s Man Without Fear for over two decades, I appreciate that Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are looking for inspiration in more places beyond Netflix’s Daredevil TV show. Matt Murdock has been around since 1964, so that’s nearly 60 years of source material to delve into. If these two can help Born Again feel even more comic book-y, then this show will be all the better for it.
Born Again will be Benson and Moorhead’s third MCU project, as prior to Loki, they directed two episodes of Moon Knight, which can also be viewed with a Disney+ subscription. In addition to these two coming aboard, the series has tapped Dario Scardapane from Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and The Punisher to be the new showrunner. Originally Born Again was being overseen by Chris Ord and Matt Corman, and although they’ve departed, they’ll be credited as executive producers. The previous team of directors included Jeffrey Nachmanoff, Clark Johnson and David Boyd.
While it remains to be seen when Daredevil: Born Again will premiere on Disney+, we can look forward to Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin both appearing in the miniseries Echo, which drops all its episodes on January 10, 2024. These two will also be joined in the Born Again cast by Jon Bernthal reprising The Punisher and Sandrine Holt as Vanessa Fisk, among others.
