“Daredevil: Born Again” has found its new creative team.
Dario Scardapane, who wrote and executive produced on Netflix’s Marvel series “The Punisher,” will serve as the showrunner for the new “Daredevil” show, after previous head writers Chris Ord and Matt Corman exited amid a major creative overhaul. Ord and Corman will still be credited as executive producers.
Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead — who directed on Marvel’s “Moon Knight” and are the lead directors on Season 2 of “Loki” —will step in to direct the rest of the first season of “Daredevil: Born Again.” As part of the show’s creative overhaul, Marvel released the previously hired directors for Season 1 after production shut down amid the SAG-AFTRA strike. Elements of the material that were already shot will be incorporated into the series, but the show overall is meant to head in a new direction.
Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige originally announced that “Born Again” would consist of 18 episodes, but its unclear how many of those will make up the first season.
While Scardapane’s background includes “The Punisher” — which was itself a spinoff of Netflix’s “Daredevil” series that ran from 2015 to 2018 —“Daredevil: Born Again” is not meant to be a continuation of the events from the Netflix shows. Nonetheless, the stars of that show, Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio, are returning to their respective roles as superhero Matt Murdock (aka Daredevil) and villain Wilson Fisk (aka Kingpin).
Cox previously reprised Murdock in 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and 2022’s “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” wile D’onofrio returned as Fisk in 2021’s “Hawkeye.” All three projects were produced by Marvel Studios. Both actors will next appear in the roles on the “Hawkeye” spinoff “Echo,” set to debut on Disney+ in early 2024.
The decision to hire Scardapane as a showrunner, rather than filling the title of head writer that Marvel has been using for its Disney+ series, demonstrates how its studio has shifted their thinking in their approach to producing television. To this point, Marvel had used a feature film model for Disney+, empowering directors and Marvel executives to oversee shows while head writers were given dominion only over the scripts. Moving forward, however, insiders indicate Marvel Studios intends to adopt the traditional showrunner model for making TV.
Scardapane’s credits also include NBC’s “Trauma” and “State of Affairs” and Amazon’s “Jack Ryan.” Benson and Moorhead directed “Spring,” “The Endless” and “Synchronic” before they joined the Marvel fold.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news.
