“Daredevil: Born Again” arrives next year as the final MCU show slated for Phase 5, with a Spring 2024 release on Disney+. Will fans be able to wait that long for the revival of Marvel‘s earlier Netflix series? Well, there’s plenty of other MCU content on the way to hold them over. Or maybe Charlie Cox‘s Matt Murdoch will make another cameo in an upcoming series or film like he did in “She-Hulk: Attorney At Law.”
Cox may be too busy to make another cameo like that, if he hasn’t already filmed it. Deadline reports (via an interview Cox did with NME) that “Born Again” has a shooting schedule that lasts most of next year. ““They said to me, ‘We’re going to be shooting in 2023’,” Cox told NME. “I said, ‘Great, when?’ They said, ‘All 2023’. I start shooting in February and finish in December.” With eighteen episodes, it’s no surprise that the MCU’s twenty-sixth TV series has such a long shoot. But it’s a return of a fan-favorite character, so Marvel wants to get Matt Murdoch’s return to the MCU right.
But don’t expect the same gritty and violent tone as the Netflix series. Cox promised NME that “Born Again” will be a whole new portrayal from the earlier show. “This has to be a reincarnation, it has to be different, otherwise why are we doing it?” said Cox. “My opinion is this character works best when he’s geared towards a slightly more mature audience. My instinct is that on Disney+ it will be dark, but it probably won’t be as gory.” For those disparaged that “Born Again” won’t be a continuation of the Netflix series Cox had this to say: “I would say to those people, we’ve done that. Let’s take the things that really worked, but can we broaden? Can we appeal to a slightly younger audience without losing what we’ve learned about what works?”
Marvel fans expect that “Born Again” may follow the 1986 comic arc of the same name, written by legendary comic book writer Frank Miller. But that’s all speculation at this point. Here’s what fans do know about the upcoming series. “Covert Affairs” creators Matt Corman and Chris Ord write and executive produce the show. Vincent D’Onofrio returns to reprise his role as Walter Fisk, aka: Kingpin. And in addition to Cox and D’Onofrio, “Born Again” also stars Michael Gandolfini, Sandrine Holt, and Margarita Levieva. At Comic-Con in July, Marvel announced the show’s first season would last eighteen episodes.
Cox is curious why “Born Again” lasts that many episodes. “I’m fascinated to discover why they’ve chosen to do 18,” he said. “I’m imagining there’s going to be an element to it that is like the old-school procedural show. Not necessarily case-of-the-week, but something where we go really deep into Matt Murdock the lawyer and get to see what his life is like. If that’s done right and he really gets his hands dirty with that world… I think there’s something quite interesting about that, to spend a lot of time in a superhero’s day-to-day life and you really earn the moments when he suits up.”
Daredevil in an old-school procedural show? Now that’s a worthy resurrection. Expect more news on “Daredevil: Born Again” after production on it starts in February.
