Marvel's Brad Winderbaum has explained why the decision was made to reduce the episode count of Daredevil: Born Again from 18 to 9 episodes (now spread across two seasons), admitting that the initial approach didn't work.
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| Image Credit: Disney Pictures |
You may remember when Daredevil: Born Again was first announced as an 18-episode TV series. The news was met with equal measure of surprise and excitement, especially since the vast majority of Marvel Studios' streaming offerings have been just 6 episodes. We've seen Marvel Studios struggle to master storytelling on the small screen, and Daredevil: Born Again quickly found itself in trouble. The show's original creative team made sure that Matt Murdock wasn't in costume for at least the first four or five episodes; if those 18 episodes were a movie, that would only be the first act; However, for a weekly TV show, that approach could be a major turnoff for fans.
As a result, Daredevil: Born Again received a creative overhaul and was split into two nine-episode seasons. Speaking to Phase Hero, Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming, Television and Animation Brad Winderbaum explained the decision to essentially split the Daredevil revival in two. After explaining that the first wave of MCU television series was an “experimental” era for the studio, he added, “Our first idea for Daredevil was to try a longer format. Let’s take this character and this world of New York City and build an ensemble. And then we learned a lot of lessons from doing that.”
“So for a variety of reasons, including disruptions due to strikes, we were able to reevaluate the episodes and see what we had.” Winderbaum continued, “It’s the best nine episodes. It feels like a great first season.” As we previously reported, he later confirmed that Daredevil: Born Again “[is] a multi-season series.”
What We Know About Daredevil: Born Again
The Punisher writer Dario Scardapane has come on board as the new showrunner for the Daredevil: Born Again series, which recently wrapped production. Specific plot details are under wraps, but we do know that Daredevil: Born Again will see Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox) face off against his old nemesis Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), who we saw rushing back to New York in the season finale of Echo. It’s likely that Fisk will be running for mayor of New York or will have already been nominated for that office by the time the story kicks off. The episodes are directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, Michael Cuesta, Jeffrey Nachmanoff, and David Boyd.
Executive producers are Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Sana Amanat, Chris Gary, Dario Scardapane, Christopher Ord, Matthew Corman, Justin Benson, and Aaron Moorhead. Both characters debuted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021. Kingpin guest-starred in the Disney+ series Hawkeye, and Matt Murdock briefly appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Cox also guest-starred in two episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, where he showed a lighter side to the hero. Kingpin, on the other hand, was among the protagonists of the recent series Echo. It was recently confirmed that Daredevil: Born Again will premiere on Disney+ on March 4, 2025.
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