Steven S. DeKnight Talks Daredevil

In an interview with Paste Magazine, Daredevil showrunner Steven S. DeKnight discussed how he got into show business and how Joss Whedon gave him his first shot at writing for an action-oriented series — Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  The conversation then segued into the upcoming Netflix-produced Daredevil series starring Charlie Cox as the Man Without Fear.  When asked about the Daredevil’s arc, DeKnight went into details about the realism of the series and how it affects the character:

"With this version of Daredevil, we wanted it to be grounded, gritty, as realistic as we could portray. That naturally fits in with the Daredevil character. Matt Murdock, on a regular basis, would get the s*** beat out of him. That’s one thing that makes him a great character. He’s not super strong. He’s not invulnerable. In every aspect, he’s a man that’s just pushed himself to the limits, he just has senses that are better than a normal humans. He is human …"

DeKnight then revealed that the thing that made him enamored with the character of Matt Murdock was how the character straddled a moral line:

"… The other thing that really drew me to this character is that he’s one of the most morally grey of the heroes … He’s a lawyer by day, and he’s taken this oath. But every night he breaks that oath, and goes out and does very violent things. The image that always stuck in my mind was the Frank Miller Elektra run where he’s holding Bullseye over the street, and he lets Bullseye go because he doesn’t want Bullseye to ever kill anyone again. When I read that originally, when I was young, I’d never seen anything like that in comics. Superman scoops up the villain and puts them in jail. This time the hero didn’t do that. It was a morally grey ground that I found absolutely fascinating. There are two sides to this character. He’s literally one bad day away from becoming the The Punisher! Frank Castle went just a little bit further than he did. Daredevil has no qualms about beating the hell out of somebody. He’s not going to tie them up with his webs! He’ll come close to killing somebody. And it’s that fine edge—Why doesn’t he go all the way? I really liked the flawed heroes, the human heroes."

Read the full interview at Paste Magazine where Steven S. DeKnight also talks about his profession, casting, and his work on Starz’s Spartacus.

The cast of Netflix’s Daredevil, so far, includes Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin, Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, and Rosario Dawson in an unspecified role.

Daredevil will be one of four Marvel/Netflix shows centered around events taking place in Hell’s Kitchen.  The other three will be Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones.  Like the cinematic universe, all four characters from each show will later converge together in a miniseries event called The Defenders — another superhero team akin to The Avengers.