There was a time when it seemed we'd never see the Devil of Hell's Kitchen on the small screen yet again, but fast-forward a few years, and the second season of Daredevil: Born Again is currently being filmed. While Matt Murdock's journey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has barely started, there's no denying it has been filled with shocking twists. The character first made a surprise comeback in Spider-Man: No Way Home, suited up (and off) for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and later made a menacing appearance in Echo. However, through all three projects, audiences couldn't help but wonder: Is this the same iteration of the character seen in the Netflix series?
When Wilson Fisk unexpectedly showed up in the finale of Hawkeye, there was no mention of how he was able to escape jail or clean up his name. Furthermore, he was also a bit stronger than usual. Fans grew worried that there wasn't going to be a continuation of what came before, and instead, it was all just one big reboot. That became especially true when it was revealed that Daredevil: Born Again wouldn't initially include the participation of Deborah Ann Woll's Karen Page or Elden Henson's Foggy Nelson. Fortunately, the series' creative reboot added their beloved characters back into the mix, but that was nearly not the case.
Daredevil: Born Again was originally disconnected from the Netflix series
The MCU's latest saga has been all about the multiverse, and it seems Daredevil: Born Again would've relied on this concept to explain that the Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk audiences last saw in 2018 were simply variants. That would explain why House of Cards actress Sandrine Holt was originally intended to play the role of Vanessa Fisk in Born Again, substituting Ayelet Zurer. That way, the MCU would've been able to cherry-pick which events of the Netflix adaptation were actually canon, and which storylines would be changed.
During Deadline’s Crew Call podcast, Charlie Cox talked more in-depth about the original vision of Daredevil: Born Again and how it would've played out:
"One of the things the original team wanted to do was they wanted to keep Vincent and I. They wanted to keep us, [but] they didn’t want to alienate the audience who hadn’t watched the [Netflix] show. They wanted it to kind of be a reset. So there was a conversation about it being almost like a variant. You know, in the Loki show, we talk about these variants. It was almost like it was a variant–and we never said that–but it was almost like a variant. So it was another version of these characters existing in this world."
Naturally, such a big change in direction was met with skepticism even among the series' cast. Both Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio weren't too comfortable with some of the directions the original series would head into:
"Before production was halted because of the writers and actors' strikes, Vincent and I had expressed concern that some of the ingredients that the show had found in the original iteration, that we felt were a key factor in its success, were being omitted."
Netflix's Daredevil is considered among the best (if not the very best) superhero series ever created. While its viewership numbers declined with the release of each season, it also gathered a cult following that campaigned for many years to see its revival after its cancellation. It would've been a huge letdown to see these characters back once again, but not acknowledge what made them so beloved in the first place. Even Charlie Cox admitted that the new iteration of Matt felt "disingenuous" at times compared to how the previous version used to act.
Fortunately, Marvel realized they were making a mistake with the whole reboot and decided to salvage as much of the series as possible. While the result was a bit of a Frankenstein experience, it set the stage for a bigger and better season 2 to be released next year. Needless to say, fans definitely dodged a bullet with this one (if only Foggy Nelson could've done the same thing).
Daredevil: Born Again season 2 will be released in March 2026.