Daredevil: Born Again directors and writers fired amid creative reboot

It appears it will be a while before the Man Without Fear stars on a stand-alone project in the MCU with Daredevil: Born Again.

Lately, it appears that everything related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is surrounded by drama, and this time around it’s no different. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel executives fired the lead writers and director of Daredevil: Born Again after watching footage of the series. Even when less than half of the 18 episodes were filmed, it was enough for Kevin Feige to decide the project needed a creative reboot.

It was that definitive, huh?

Chris Ord and Matt Corman were the former writers behind Daredevil: Born Again. Their original script focused on Matt Murdock’s legal duties rather than the darker and violent themes that the Man Without Fear uses to deal with (just like in its Netflix series). The superhero-ing aspect of the… well, superhero show, was going to be set aside for the first four episodes where Daredevil wouldn’t even wear his signature suit.

Even when Marvel greenlit the project knowing about its slower pace, they quickly found themselves needing to rethink their original approach. After all, the Netflix series was met with great success and praise by critics and fans alike, putting lots of pressure on the shoulders of Daredevil: Born Again.

Both the lead writers and the director were silently fired this past September during the WGA strikes. Does this shift in direction mean the original release date of January 2025 will not be met? Well, Marvel has yet to make an official announcement but it’s looking unlikely. Even if some scenes and episodes that were already shot are (reportedly) still going to be used, the huge restructuring behind the series means more time will be needed while Marvel decides which type of project they want to make.

Vincent D’Onofrio speaks on Daredevil: Born Again’s overhaul

Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio are going to reprise their roles as Daredevil and Kingpin in Daredevil: Born Again even with all of the recent changes. So with the news of the firings, the man behind Wilson Fisk wanted to reassure fans they are still looking to make the best project possible.

These statements could indicate that the show’s changes will be for the better and that they were necessary to ensure the upcoming series will be the best it can be. As Vincent says: they don’t want to settle for less.

Marvel to take a different approach with its new shows

Daredevil: Born Again recent firings are not an isolated incident, as Marvel is looking to completely change their current approach to producing superhero series. Instead of relying on movie executives to craft upcoming projects, they want to hire showrunners. It’s a smart move, considering movies and series are two different mediums altogether and they require different abilities from their leading forces.

Besides, Marvel will start to order pilot episodes instead of just going all-in and producing a complete season of a multi-million dollar show before getting a better idea of what it could look like. After all, that’s usually the go-to approach for other studios, and it makes you wonder why it wasn’t that way for them from the beginning.

As mentioned before, Daredevil: Born Again would’ve seen Matt as a lawyer rather than as a hero for the first few episodes. So why did Hell’s Kitchen’s protector leave the scene? Well, it appears it was due to his inability to save his friends.

Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson, who portrayed Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, were not going to return for Daredevil: Born Again. While we didn’t know the reason for their absence at first, @CanWeGetSomeToast reports Matt’s closest friend was going to die, forcing him to ditch the suit and seemingly retire. While that decision would’ve certainly differentiated this project from its Netflix counterpart, maybe it wouldn’t have sat well with long-time fans. After all, Foggy and Karen became beloved characters who became essential to the success of the three seasons of Daredevil released so far.

Let’s just hope Marvel is able to re-work all of the negative aspects that were behind the recent firings of the show’s writers and director.