The first season is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on March 4, 2025, with its first two episodes as part of Phase Five of the MCU. A second season was confirmed in August 2024.
Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil: A blind lawyer with superhuman senses from Hell's Kitchen, New York, who leads a double life as a masked vigilante.[4] At the start of the season, Murdock focuses on being a lawyer due to the collateral damage that comes with being a vigilante and concerns about how effective that approach has been.[5]:26 Eli D. Goss portrays a young Matt.[6][independent source needed]
Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin: A powerful businessman and crime lord,[4] who is running for mayor of New York City.[7][8] D'Onofrio said the tone for his character in the Disney+ series Echo (2024) would continue in Born Again, which he believed was how the character was best portrayed.[9] The season sees Fisk amassing power and "flexing his darkness" to "basically gaslight a city, and then eventually a country, and then eventually a world".[10][5]:28
Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn: A therapist and Murdock's love interest.[11][1]:3 She and Murdock have differing views on vigilantism which Cox said "leads to some poignant conversations" between the couple.[5]:26
Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page: A former reporter and Murdock's friend and partner at the Nelson, Murdock & Page law firm.[12] Because it had been years since she last played the character in Daredevil (2015–2018), Woll was concerned about her performance feeling like an impression of herself. However, she found her return to be natural given the rapport she has with Cox and Elden Henson.[10]
Wilson Bethel as Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter: A psychopathic former FBI agent who is able to use almost any object as a lethal projectile. He previously masqueraded as Daredevil for Fisk, before Fisk broke his back.[13][14]
Clark Johnson as Cherry: A retired New York City police officer who works with Murdock.[1]:5[5]:30 Johnson modeled Cherry after Roy Scheider's character Buddy "Cloudy" Russo in the film The French Connection (1971).[1]:5
Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Marianna-Fisk: Wilson's wife who took over his criminal empire after they were separated, leading to tension between the couple.[17] Zurer elaborated that Wilson takes over what Vanessa made successful, leaving the latter struggling with what her place is moving forward.[1]:5 Zurer portrayed Vanessa in Daredevil, but Sandrine Holt was originally cast in the role for Born Again. Zurer was brought back after the series' creative overhaul.[18][19]
Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / Punisher: A vigilante who aims to fight the criminal underworld by any means necessary, no matter how lethal the results are,[20][21] following the brutal murder of his family.[1]:5 In the season, Murdock asks Castle to help him with something he is unwilling to do, which Castle takes on and "drives right to the heart of the matter".[10] Bernthal said the season finds the character "absolutely committed to his mission".[1]:5 To prepare for the role, Bernthal trained at a gun range where he crossed paths with Thomas Jane, who previously played the character in the Lionsgate film The Punisher (2004). The two discussed the character, which Bernthal appreciated.[22]
A reboot of Marvel's Netflix television seriesDaredevil (2015–2018) was reported to be in development with Marvel Studios in March 2022.[30][31] The series was confirmed to be in development for Disney+ in late May, with Christopher Ord and Matthew Corman attached as head writers and executive producers.[32] At San Diego Comic-Con that July, the series was announced as Daredevil: Born Again and was revealed to have 18 episodes for its first season.[33]Michael Cuesta was set to direct the first episode of the season in March 2023. Additional directors were expected to direct blocks of episodes.[18]Jeffrey Nachmanoff and Clark Johnson—who was previously a director on the Marvel Netflix series Luke Cage (2016–2018)—joined the season as additional directors in May, with Johnson hired to direct two episodes.[34][35]David Boyd was also set to direct.[36]
By late September 2023, after six episodes had been filmed,[37][38] Marvel Studios decided to overhaul the series with a new creative direction. Corman and Ord were let go as head writers, as were the directors for the remainder of the season.[37] Marvel planned to retain some elements that had been shot, add new serialized elements, and move closer to the tone of the Netflix series.[37][39] The creative team also decided to connect the new series to the original series more directly than had previously been planned.[40] Star Charlie Cox said it was confusing how the series was not a direct continuation of the Netflix series or a complete reboot. Brad Winderbaum, the head of streaming, television, and animation at Marvel Studios, said the studio believed they could "play it loose" with the history of Daredevil but when they reviewed what had been shot so far they realized that they would have to either fully embrace the Netflix series or start over fresh.[10]Dario Scardapane, a writer on Netflix's Daredevil spin-off series The Punisher (2017–2019), was hired as showrunner for Born Again in October 2023.[39] Filmmaking duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who previously worked on the Marvel Studios series Moon Knight (2022) and the second season of Loki (2023), were hired to direct the remaining episodes.[39]
A lot of the material that we shot pre-strike is brilliant and is still in the show and works really well. There were just some complicated factors around what we had been tasked to do and what we were discovering was and wasn't working... Credit to Marvel that they looked at the episodes and could acknowledge that we could still do better, and that we maybe needed to go in a slightly different direction... Where we ended up felt really good.
–Charlie Cox answering a question at Fan Expo Chicago in August 2024 about the differences in the series before and after the creative overhaul[41]
Three new episodes were written, including a new pilot episode, as well as additional scenes for the previously shot episodes.[38][42] Cox confirmed in May 2024 that nine episodes had been filmed.[43] Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in August that these were the first season of Born Again, and a second season was planned;[44][45] with the creative overhaul, the planned 18-episode season had been split into two seasons,[42][10] with the second season ultimately having eight episodes.[46] Also in August, Cuesta, Nachmanoff, and Boyd were re-confirmed to be credited directors for the series.[36] Moorhead said they wanted to "give those directors credit where it's due" despite him and Benson guiding the final edits for the episodes filmed before the overhaul. Some of those episodes had "some rejiggering, and [new] framing, and bookends" added, but some were left "100% intact".[42] Executive producers for the season included Marvel Studios' Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Winderbaum, Sana Amanat, and Chris Gary, alongside Scardapane, Corman, Ord, Benson, and Moorhead.[47] The series is released under Marvel Studios' "Marvel Television" label.[48]
Writing
Original writers for the series included Corman, Ord,[32]Grainne Godfree, Jill Blankenship,[49] Aisha Porter-Christie, David Feige, Devon Kliger, Thomas Wong, Zachary Reiter,[50] and Molly Nussbaum.[51] The initial take on the series was described as a legal procedural that was dark but not as gory as the Netflix series,[37][52] and more episodic than other Marvel Studios series with "self-contained" episodes.[53] According to Cox, early discussions for the series were about "reinvent[ing] the whole thing" and portraying Matt Murdock / Daredevil as a different person from the one seen in the Netflix series.[54] Murdock's friends Foggy Nelson and Karen Page were largely not acknowledged in this version of the series. Amanat said the creative team were struggling to incorporate them into the story, but Cox said there were discussions to do some "cool stuff" with them in the future.[10]
Following the creative overhaul, serialized elements were set to be added.[39] Scardapane was joined by writers Heather Bellson and Jesse Wigutow,[2] and three new episodes were written: the pilot and the final two episodes of the first season.[42] Corman, Ord, Blankenship, David Feige, Godfree, and Wong received credits on the other six episodes,[2] which were kept largely intact.[42] Winderbaum said test audiences responded well to those episodes and believed this was due to fan appreciation for the characters. Scardapane agreed that several elements in the original version worked well—including Murdock's relationships, balancing his time as a lawyer and vigilante, and the pressures of an antagonist like Kingpin—but he felt there were storylines that needed to be added along with context from the Netflix series.[10] Scardapane's pilot acts as a bridge between the Netflix series and Born Again. The showrunner felt the end of the Netflix series—which sees Murdock, Nelson, and Page planning to go into business together again—was a good starting point for Born Again and did not need too much explanation for viewers who had not seen the original series.[55] He felt it was important to include Nelson and Page because they are Murdock's "family structure". Nelson also provides comic relief, while Page is "the heart and soul" of the series.[5]:30 Cox explained that a few years have passed since the end of Daredevil, with the three characters running their law firm and having a "pretty good rhythm" together.[54] The cast added that the events of the Netflix series were part of their characters' histories, and there are some new storylines that build on the original's events, but they did not want to dwell too much on past events or alienate new viewers who did not watch the Netflix series.[56]
Both of these men carry a dark passenger. The dark passenger for Matt Murdock is Daredevil, and for Wilson Fisk, it's Kingpin. The tragic flaw in their characters is that they both give in to the darker side of their true nature, and they draw each other into that. We had to do parallel paths—both tried so hard to be something else: 'I'm Matt Murdock. I'm just a lawyer—I'm not Daredevil anymore.' 'I'm Wilson Fisk, mayor of New York City; I'm doing good things for people.' We wanted to bring that tension to a place where they literally can't sustain it, and things start to unravel and explode.
–Showrunner Dario Scardapane on the characters of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, and how they are explored in the first season[1]:3
At the beginning of the season, Murdock has not been Daredevil for a year after a "line was crossed".[10] The story sees Wilson Fisk / Kingpin running for mayor of New York City after learning of the need for a strong candidate in the post-credits scene of the Disney+ series Echo (2024); this follows a late 2010s storyline from the comics in which Fisk becomes mayor that builds to the "Devil's Reign" (2021–2022) event.[7][8][57] Winderbaum said the relationship between Murdock and Fisk would evolve from the Netflix series to be a "game of politics" rather than just trying to kill each other.[58] Scardapane said the series was a "two-hander", exploring both characters.[1]:4 He said Fisk consolidates power in the season and Murdock is forced into a reactive position while struggling with his identity and whether to continue as Daredevil.[5]:24–25 The pair come to a "loose truce" which leads to them interacting less than they did in Daredevil,[59] but Cox said they are on a "collision course" for the rest of the season, "pushing boundaries and forcing each other to cross lines they don't want to cross".[5]:26 Though Fisk is the "prime villain", the season features other antagonists who Scardapane said would be "piling up" as the story continues. These include the serial killer Muse,[10] who was part of the series' original development. Fisk star Vincent D'Onofrio said his character has to work Muse's actions into his own plan.[60]
Casting
Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio were reported in June 2022 to be starring in Born Again, reprising their respective roles of Matt Murdock / Daredevil and Wilson Fisk / Kingpin from Daredevil.[61] Their casting was confirmed a month later at San Diego Comic-Con.[4] Cox was notified by Marvel Studios in early 2022 that they were looking to feature the character in another project following his appearances in the film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) and the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022). He learned that this was Born Again shortly before the Comic-Con announcement.[62]
In December 2022, Michael Gandolfini,[63]Margarita Levieva, and Sandrine Holt were cast in major roles.[64] Gandolfini was reportedly portraying "an ambitious guy from Staten Island" named Liam,[63] while Levieva and Holt were playing love interests for Cox and D'Onofrio, respectively;[64] Holt was cast as Vanessa Marianna-Fisk,[18] replacing Ayelet Zurer from the original series.[19]Nikki M. James joined the cast by January 2023.[65] In March, Jon Bernthal was revealed to be reprising his role of Frank Castle / Punisher from Daredevil and The Punisher in Born Again.[20][66] Additional cast members from Daredevil, such as Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page) and Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), were not expected to return according to The Hollywood Reporter, and it was unclear if their characters would appear in Born Again.[20] Henson, however, was planned to make a cameo appearance in the first episode as a way to "end the link between [Daredevil and Born Again] and give the old fans closure".[67]Michael Gaston and Arty Froushan were also part of the cast,[18][68] with Froushan in a major role that was reported to be an associate of Fisk's named Harry.[68] Set photos the following month indicated that Harris Yulin was part of the cast.[29] In May, Clark Johnson was revealed to be cast in a recurring role, reported to be named Cherry, in addition to his hiring as a director.[35] In September 2023, a United States Copyright Office filing for the series listed several roles: Levieva as Heather Glenn, Gandolfini as Daniel Blake, James as Kirsten McDuffie, Johnson as Cherry, Froushan as Buck Cashman, Genneya Walton as BB Urich, and Zabryna Guevara as Sheila Rivera.[69][70][16] With the death of Kamar de los Reyes in December 2023, he was revealed to have a significant role.[25]
Following the creative overhaul, Woll and Henson were set to reprise their roles as Page and Nelson,[12][71] and Wilson Bethel was set to reprise his role as Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter from Daredevil,[13] reportedly for three episodes.[14] Amanat pushed for Bethel to return, finding the character intriguing and the most appropriate antagonist from the Netflix series to revisit.[10] It was initially unclear if any of the new Born Again cast members would be retained,[70] though Levieva,[72] Gandolfini,[73] and Froushan were soon reaffirmed to be part of the cast through set photos.[74] Set photos reaffirmed Bernthal's inclusion that April, and revealed that Jeremy Earl had been cast as Cole North.[21][27]Lou Taylor Pucci also joined the cast,[28] and set photos revealed that Zurer would now be reprising her role as Marianna-Fisk for the series;[19] she was disappointed with the initial recasting and was pleasantly surprised when she was asked to return following the overhaul.[17] In August 2024, de los Reyes was reaffirmed to be appearing in the series, portraying the character Hector Ayala / White Tiger.[26]
Also in August 2024, Mohan Kapur was revealed to be reprising his role as Yusuf Khan from the MCU series Ms. Marvel (2022) and its follow-up film The Marvels (2023).[23] Winderbaum said bringing a character from Ms. Marvel into the more serious world of Born Again was similar to how comic books with different tones often crossover.[10] Cox teased the appearance of additional MCU characters in Born Again for cameo appearances that he described as "fun, small moments of collision, but nothing major".[75] Scardapane teased the inclusion of a surprising character who naturally fit into the story due to it being set in the MCU's New York City.[11] In February 2025, Tony Dalton was revealed to be reprising his role as Jack Duquesne / Swordsman from Hawkeye for two episodes of Born Again.[24]
Design
Emily Gunshor was the costume designer for the series, and Michael Shaw was the production designer.[1]:2 Marvel Studios' head of visual development Ryan Meinerding once again designed the Daredevil suit for Born Again, after doing so for the Netflix series.[76] The suit in Born Again has a darker tone of red to reflect Murdock's evolution, along with black detailing and added texture which was described as less "shiny" than the suit in the Netflix series.[76][1]:8 At least five different Daredevil cowls are seen in the season, including an all-white version based on the one first seen in Daredevil vol. 8 (2023), the yellow cowl used in She-Hulk, a black cowl, and two red cowls.[26][76][77]
Filming
Principal photography began on March 6, 2023, in the state of New York,[78] under the working titleOut the Kitchen.[79] Filming took place in Yonkers outside the city mayor's office from March 7 through March 10.[80] The production then moved to New York City, filming in Harlem on March 13 and 14,[81][82] and in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and at the Manhattan Municipal Building on March 15;[83][84] Williamsburg was also used as a shooting location for Daredevil.[83] Filming took place at the New York County Courthouse on March 17.[85] Cox described New York City as "number one on the call sheet and the big star here". Shaw said it was important to film in the city because "on the real city streets and locations, you capture the energy of New York and that bleeds into the fabric of the series". The production wanted to explore parts of the city that had not been seen on film before.[1]:4–6
Picketers participating in the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike on May 10, 2023, at the series' set. This and other picketing resulted in production being suspended on June 14 until after the strike's conclusion.
Soundstage work occurred at Silvercup Studios East in Queens.[88] The series' art department built detailed recreations of rooms from Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of New York City; Shaw said there was something "slightly uncomfortable" about seeing Fisk in rooms that feel like "somebody's grandmother's house". Another set was Muse's lair which Shaw said was "a bit heightened" and very dark.[1]:6–7 Filming was set to take place at Silvercup on May 8, when picketers participating in the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike prevented filming from occurring. Production was planned to resume the following day. Because of the strike, Corman and Ord were unable to be on set.[88] After further picketing on May 10 at the series' set in Brooklyn once again shut down filming, production was paused for the remainder of the week.[86] Additional filming shutdowns because of picketing occurred in early June at Silvercup,[89][90] before production was suspended on June 14 until after the strike's conclusion.[87] Filming was originally expected to last for eight months.[88]
Six episodes were largely filmed before the shutdown,[38] with Cuesta directing the first two episodes, Nachmanoff directing the third and fourth, and Boyd directing the fifth and sixth.[18][34][42][1]:17–18 Pedro Gómez Millán and Hillary Fyfe Spera were the cinematographers.[1]:2 Following the creative overhaul, the directors for the remainder of the series were let go;[37] Johnson had been planned to direct two episodes.[35] Benson and Moorhead were set to direct the new episodes,[39] and Philip Silvera was hired as stunt coordinator and second unit director after previously working on the Netflix series;[91] Dave Macomber also served as stunt coordinator and second unit director for the series.[1]:2
Filming resumed on January 22, 2024,[91] with Spera serving as cinematographer on the new pilot episode.[92] Silvera conceived a single take fight scene for the episode,[60] which had been a feature of Daredevil,[93] and which Cox called "challenging for new and different reasons", largely because of added visual effect elements. The scene is not a "true" single take, employing cuts and other editing tricks similar to the single take sequence in the second season of Daredevil.[60] Props from the Netflix series were brought back for a scene where the characters reminisce about their pasts.[56] When filming Murdock or characters related to him, Benson and Moorhead chose to use a handheld camera, while Fisk and characters close to him were filmed with locked-down cameras and little movement.[10] Set photos at the end of January saw Cox, Henson, and Woll filming scenes,[94] and revealed the involvement of White Tiger and Muse, the latter through on-set graffiti.[95][96][26] In early April, Bernthal and Cox filmed scenes in Brooklyn,[21] ahead of a filming wrap party on April 5.[97] Zurer and D'Onofrio filmed scenes in New York City shortly after.[98] In mid-May, Cox and D'Onofrio said filming was completed three or four weeks earlier, and nine episodes had been filmed.[43][99] Winderbaum believed the series had Marvel Studios' "most brutal [visceral] action", saying it "packs a lot of power".[100]
Editing
Editors for the season include Cedric Nairn-Smith,[101] Melissa Lawson Cheung,[102] and Stephanie Filo.[103] Nairn-Smith previously worked on the Marvel Studios series Moon Knight and Ironheart (2025),[101] while Cheung previously worked on Secret Invasion (2023) and The Marvels.[102]
Cox and D'Onofrio promoted the series at Disney's May 2024 upfront presentation, where the release month was announced and the first trailer was shown.[105][106] The pair again promoted the series and showed a trailer at Disney's D23 convention that August, alongside Feige, Bernthal, Woll, and Henson.[44] Writers at Deadline Hollywood and TheWrap all felt the D23 trailer was more cinematic than the Netflix series and more mature than most Disney+ series. They also compared a confrontation between Murdock and Fisk in the trailer to the crime film Heat (1995).[44][23] Following online leaks of the D23 footage, Marvel released an official look at Daredevil in his red costume within their video celebrating the company's 85th anniversary.[107] In October 2024, Marvel Comics announced a new publishing line titled Marvel Premier Collection, which consists of new paperback editions of popular comic book runs that are considered to be good starting points for new readers. A reprint of the "Born Again" comic was set to be released in February 2025, with a new foreword from Miller and an afterword by Cox.[108]
A teaser trailer was released on January 15, 2025.[47] It was originally scheduled to be released two days earlier, but was postponed because of the 2025 Southern California wildfires.[47][109] Commentary on the trailer focused on the return of characters from the Netflix series and on its brutal, violent action.[110] Andy Behbakht at Screen Rant said the dark and violent action sequences quelled some concerns that the series would not retain those elements from the Netflix series in its move to Disney+. He also highlighted the reveal that Murdock is no longer a vigilante at the start of the new series.[111]
Release
The first season of Daredevil: Born Again is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on March 4, 2025, with its first two episodes.[112][113] The season will consist of nine episodes.[45] The series was originally scheduled to debut in early 2024,[33] but was removed from Marvel Studios' release schedule in September 2023 because filming had been suspended by the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes.[114] The next month, a copyright filing for the first episode indicated an approximate release in January 2025.[69] The March 2025 debut was announced in May 2024.[115] A red carpet premiere event was held on February 24, 2025, at the Hudson Theater in New York City, where the first two episodes were screened.[116][117] The season is set to be part of Phase Five of the MCU,[33] and is being released under Marvel Studios' "Marvel Television" label.[48]
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