Daredevil: Born Again

Premise

Daredevil: Born Again begins several years after the events of Daredevil (2015–2018), and a year after blind lawyer Matt Murdock stopped his activities as the masked vigilante Daredevil. In the first season, Murdock continues his fight for justice as a lawyer while former crime boss Wilson Fisk is elected mayor of New York City, putting the pair on a collision course. After Fisk consolidates power, declares martial law, and begins targeting vigilantes, the second season sees him hunting Daredevil. Murdock goes underground and gathers allies to resist Fisk's corruption and his Anti-Vigilante Task Force (AVTF).

Cast and characters

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. Cox appreciated being able to first reprise his role from Marvel's Netflix television series in the film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) and the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022), since he was able to have "a bit of fun" and see Murdock interact with characters that the original Daredevil (2015–2018) series was unable to feature. They could then "set our own tone" with Born Again and "explore and develop all of the possibilities of his life back in New York". Cox began training for the role by October 2022, focusing on mixed martial arts (MMA) in the hope of portraying Murdock as someone who has training in various fight styles that he can employ depending on who he is fighting, rather than just being an all-around brawler.

Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin:A powerful businessman and crime lord, who is mayor of New York City. 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. After gaining 40 pounds (18 kg) for the role in Daredevil, D'Onofrio chose to wear a fat suit for Born Again as he had done starting with his appearance in the Disney+ series Hawkeye (2021). D'Onofrio thought the fat suit had progressed with modern technology to be lighter and more realistic, and he was happy not to have to gain the weight. D'Onofrio added that other techniques were used to "sell the size", and said the character's size at the end of the first season would be "more specific and more detailed" for reasons related to the second season.

Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn / Muse:A therapist and Murdock's new love interest, who becomes Fisk's Commissioner of Mental Health and later takes on the mantle of the masked serial killer Muse. She and Murdock have differing views on vigilantism. Levieva believed Glenn was the first girlfriend Murdock was "truly committed to". After being stalked and almost killed by Muse in the first season, Glenn embraces the role of the killer heading into the third season.

Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page:A former reporter and Murdock's friend and partner at the Nelson, Murdock & Page law firm. Showrunner Dario Scardapane said Page was "the heart and soul of this mythology" and her interactions with Murdock bring more humanity out of him.

Episodes

Season 3

A third season was confirmed in September 2025, with filming underway as of March 2026. It is expected to be released in March 2027.

Production

Background

The television series Daredevil, based on the Marvel Comics character Daredevil and produced by Marvel Television and ABC Studios, premiered on Netflix in April 2015, and lasted for three seasons until its cancellation in November 2018. Netflix said the three seasons would remain on the service, while the title character would "live on in future projects for Marvel". Deadline Hollywood noted that, unlike some of the other Marvel series on Netflix that were also canceled, "the door seems to be wide open" for the series to continue elsewhere, potentially on Disney's streaming service Disney+. However, The Hollywood Reporter said this was unlikely, especially since, as reported by Variety, the original deal between Marvel and Netflix stipulated that the characters could not appear in any non-Netflix series or films for at least two years following the cancellation of Daredevil. Kevin A. Mayer, chairman of Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International, said there was a possibility that Disney+ could revive the series but this had not yet been discussed. Hulu's senior vice president of originals, Craig Erwich, said his streaming service was also open to reviving the series.

Star Charlie Cox was saddened by the cancellation, explaining that he was excited by the plans for a fourth season, which he and the rest of the cast and crew had expected to be made. He was hopeful there would be an opportunity to portray Matt Murdock / Daredevil again in some form. Amy Rutberg, who portrayed Marci Stahl in the series, said the cast and crew had expected it to last for five seasons, with a new antagonist being introduced in the fourth season before a final showdown between Daredevil and Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk / Kingpin in the fifth. When Marvel Studios began discussions about continuing the Daredevil franchise within their shared universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), studio president Kevin Feige insisted they bring back Cox and D'Onofrio, feeling the pair were as "inextricably linked" to their characters as MCU actors Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans were to Tony Stark / Iron Man and Steve Rogers / Captain America, respectively. Feige contacted Cox in June 2020 about reprising his role as Murdock in the MCU, and he announced that Cox was returning for future Marvel Studios projects in December 2021. Cox first reprised his role in the film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), while D'Onofrio first reprised his role as Fisk in the Disney+ series Hawkeye (2021). Daredevil was moved from Netflix to Disney+ in March 2022 after Netflix's license for the series ended and Disney regained the rights.

Development

Marvel Studios decided to make a new Daredevil-led series in January 2022, following the appearances of Cox in No Way Home and D'Onofrio in Hawkeye. Cox discussed such a series in March, believing it should begin a few years after the end of the previous series and be "re-imagined". Regarding whether it should be rated TV-MA as the Netflix series was, he believed Marvel Studios would be able to create a faithful version of the character without that rating. However, he found the comics "more exciting, readable, relatable when it lives in a darker space" such as Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev's run on the comics, and he felt important attributes of the character such as his age, Catholic guilt, and history with women were more mature subjects. Cox was hopeful that a new series could have a more faithful adaptation of the 1986 comic book storyline "Born Again" by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, which the original series took inspiration from for its third season. He described the storyline as "kind of a PG comic" and a guide for how the series could work with that rating.

Later in March, a Daredevil reboot series was reported to be in development with Marvel Studios' Feige and Chris Gary as producers. The series was confirmed to be in development for Disney+ in late May, with Matt Corman and Chris Ord attached as head writers and executive producers. The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline Hollywood both described it as a fourth season of the original series. During the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con in July, the series was officially announced as Daredevil: Born Again and was revealed to have 18 episodes for its first season. Cox said an 18-episode series was a "huge undertaking" and was chosen in part due to the many story possibilities that come with Murdock being a lawyer. Christian Holub at Entertainment Weekly believed the title was a reference to the character "literally being 'born again' into the official MCU" rather than the series being an adaptation of the "Born Again" storyline. Cox described Born Again as a "whole new thing" and not a fourth season of the Netflix series, which he felt was "the way to go. If you are going to do it again, do it differently." D'Onofrio reiterated this, saying they had few plans to connect to the original. He added that they were working on two seasons and there would be "gigantic payoffs" during the second.

Directors were hired for blocks of episodes: Michael Cuesta joined in March 2023 to direct the first two episodes; Jeffrey Nachmanoff joined in May to direct the third and fourth episodes; David Boyd directed the fifth and sixth episodes; and Clark Johnson, a director on the Marvel Netflix series Luke Cage (2016–2018), also joined in May to direct another two episodes. Actor Tom Hiddleston, who portrays Loki in the MCU and is a close friend of Cox, was also hired to direct an episode in the later half of the season.

Writing

The initial take on the series was described as a legal procedural, with Feige explaining to Cox that the studio wanted to bring a traditional broadcast procedural into the world of streaming and felt it was a natural path to build such a series around a lawyer character that was already popular. Feige added that the studio was hoping to experiment with more episodic, "self-contained" episodes, unlike some of their Phase Four series that had a larger story split across multiple episodes. Cox said the initial take was dark but not as gory as the Netflix series. He wanted to take what worked from Daredevil and broaden it for Born Again to appeal to a younger audience. He also said early discussions for the series were about "reinvent[ing] the whole thing" and portraying Murdock as a different person from the one seen in the Netflix series. Murdock's friends Franklin "Foggy" Nelson and Karen Page were largely not acknowledged in this version. Amanat said the creative team struggled to incorporate them into the story, but Cox said there were discussions to do some "cool stuff" with them in the future.

Following the creative overhaul, serialized elements were set to be added. Scardapane said several elements in the original version worked well, but he felt there were storylines that needed to be added along with context from the Netflix series. His pilot acts as a bridge between the Netflix series and Born Again, beginning a few years after the end of Daredevil with Murdock, Nelson, and Page running their law firm and having a "pretty good rhythm" together. Winderbaum said Marvel Studios' approach to connecting Born Again with the Netflix series after the creative overhaul was influenced by how Loki and the animated series X-Men '97 (2024–present) honored prior iterations of their characters to establish new storylines. The cast said 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. Cox praised Scardapane's balance between respecting the Netflix series and not relying on that history too much. Co-star Jon Bernthal said any large diversions to the characters from the past were done for a reason, not simply for the sake of trying a different idea. Some of Scardapane's early ideas for the series were turned down due to Marvel Studios' larger plans for the MCU, but he otherwise had "leeway" to tell a specific Daredevil story. The character's appearances in Daredevil, No Way Home, and the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) are part of his history, but the series does not lean into all of those events. Scardapane said Marvel had "moved Matt through other corners of the MCU, and now he's back in his own story", which has a more serious tone.

Casting

Starring in the first season are Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin, Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Elden Henson as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, Wilson Bethel as Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter / Bullseye, Zabryna Guevara as Sheila Rivera, Nikki M. James as Kirsten McDuffie, Genneya Walton as BB Urich, Arty Froushan as Buck Cashman, Clark Johnson as Cherry, Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blake, Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk, Kamar de los Reyes as Hector Ayala / White Tiger, Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / Punisher, Mohan Kapur as Yusuf Khan, and Tony Dalton as Jack Duquesne / Swordsman. Before the creative overhaul, cast members from the Netflix series beyond Cox, D'Onofrio, and Bernthal were not expected to reprise their roles, and Sandrine Holt was cast to replace Zurer as Vanessa. Zurer was brought back after the overhaul, along with Woll, Henson, and Bethel.

Cox, D'Onofrio, Woll, Levieva, Dalton, Gandolfini, James, Froushan, Walton, Guevara, Johnson, Zurer, Bethel, and Henson all returned for the second season. They were joined by Matthew Lillard as Mr. Charles and Lili Taylor as Marge McCaffrey. Additionally, several actors reprised their roles from Marvel's Netflix series, including Toby Leonard Moore as James Wesley, and Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones. Mike Colter also makes an appearance in the season finale, reprising his role as Luke Cage.

Returning for the third season are Cox, D'Onofrio, Woll, Levieva, Bethel, Froushan, Guevara, Ritter, and Colter. Joining them for the season are Finn Jones and Élodie Yung, reprising their roles as Danny Rand / Iron Fist and Elektra Natchios, respectively, from Marvel's Netflix series.

Design

Emily Gunshor was the costume designer for the series, and Michael Shaw was the production designer. Marvel Studios' head of visual development Ryan Meinerding once again designed the Daredevil suit for Born Again, after doing so for the Netflix series. 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.

Filming

Filming for the series occurs at Silvercup Studios East in Queens, with location work throughout New York. Hillary Fyfe Spera serves as cinematographer, with Pedro Gómez Millán doing so as well in the first season and Jeffrey Waldron in the second. Production on the first season was halted by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.

Visual effects

Gong Myung Lee is the series' visual effects supervisor, with visual effects for the first season provided by Rise FX, FOLKS, Phosphene, Powerhouse VFX, Ghost VFX, Soho VFX, Cantina Creative, Anibrain, Base FX, SDFX, and The Third Floor, Inc., and Eyeline, Storm Studios, Important Looking Pirates, Lola Visual Effects, Phosphene, Curated, Anibrain, Cantina Creative, FOLKS, EDI Effetti Digitali Italiani, Ingenuity Studios, and Wylie Co. VFX.

Music

In July 2024, the Newton Brothers were revealed to be composing music for the series. They previously composed the score for X-Men '97. The pair expressed their love for the Daredevil comics and for the main theme from the original Daredevil series, which was briefly re-used for Daredevil's appearances in She-Hulk and the Disney+ animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2025–present). The Newton Brothers' main theme for Born Again incorporates the Daredevil theme, originally composed by John Paesano and Braden Kimball. It was released as a digital single by Hollywood Records and Marvel Music on March 4, 2025.

The first season's score was released digitally in two volumes: music from the first four episodes was released on March 28, and music from the other five episodes was released on April 18. The second season score is being released digitally in two volumes: music from the first four episodes were released on April 7, and music for the other four episodes will be released later.

Release

Daredevil: Born Again premiered on Disney+ on March 4, 2025, under Marvel Studios' "Marvel Television" label. The nine-episode first season is part of Phase Five of the MCU. The eight-episode second season premiered on March 24, 2026, while the eight-episode third season is set to be released in March 2027. Both are part of Phase Six of the MCU. Winderbaum hoped future seasons could be released annually in March.

Reception

Viewership

The two-episode premiere received 7.5 million views on Disney+ in its first five days, according to Disney; the company defines a view as total stream time divided by runtime. This was the biggest debut on Disney+ for 2025 at that point, and was compared to the two-episode debut of fellow MCU Disney+ series Agatha All Along (2024), which had 9.3 million views within its first seven days of streaming.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 87% of 224 critics gave the first season a positive review, and the average of rated reviews was 7.70 out of 10. The critics consensus reads, "Resurrecting Charlie Cox's Daredevil with his virtues intact—namely Vincent D'Onofrio as his terrifying adversary—Born Again is an ambitious and at times ungainly crime saga that marks a mature tonal shift for the MCU." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 69 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Critics said the season exceeded expectations and highlighted the character-driven storytelling and performances, particularly those of Cox and D'Onofrio. There were mixed feelings on how it compares to the original Daredevil series, and many critics acknowledged that the seams of the creative overhaul are visible in the season, with some comparing it to Frankenstein's monster.

For the second season, Rotten Tomatoes reported that 86% of 133 critics gave a positive review, and the average of rated reviews was 7.85 out of 10. The critics consensus reads, "Daredevil: Born Again imbues its second season with rich substance thanks to devilishly good performances, punchier narrative momentum, and well-timed themes befitting this daring crusader." Metacritic assigned a score of 73 out of 100 based on 16 critics, again indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Critics praised the season as an improvement over the first and one of the best projects from Marvel Television, highlighting the action and the performances of Cox and D'Onofrio. Following the second season's release, Caroline Siede discussed the series' connections to the Netflix series for The A.V. Club. Siede felt efforts to connect the first season to the original series following the creative overhaul were "halfhearted", but the second season improved on this by fully embracing the Netflix series, with a central role for Page and various returning major and supporting characters, along with more thematic and aesthetic ties. Siede said the series was "synthesizing its two halves into a more cohesive whole" by retaining elements of the "glossier world of Born Again" that were working and would have been out of place in the Netflix series.

Podcast

For the second season, Marvel Television launched a nine-episode companion podcast, Daredevil: Born Again Official Podcast, which debuted on March 17, 2026. It features conversations with the cast, crew, and creatives, with the first episode looking back at the series so far and teasing elements of the second season. Subsequent weekly episodes of the podcast explore each episode of the second season as they were released. The Daredevil: Born Again Official Podcast was released on Disney+ and YouTube, with an audio-only version available on various podcast platforms.

Television special

In February 2025, Bernthal was revealed to be reprising his role as Frank Castle / Punisher in a television special titled The Punisher: One Last Kill, a Marvel Television Special Presentation. Reinaldo Marcus Green was set to direct the special and co-write it with Bernthal. The special was conceived during filming for the first season of Born Again, and was released on Disney+ on May 12, 2026, a week after the finale of Born Again's second season. According to Scardapane, the special follows Castle following the second season of The Punisher (2019), as well as before and during the second season of Born Again. Woll also reprises her role in the special.