Charlie Cox revealed to People magazine that he was first contacted by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige about a potential return as Daredevil in the Marvel Cinematic Universe all the way back in 2020. It would take another two years before the studio announced “Daredevil: Born Again,” although by then Cox had already popped up as the character in a cameo in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The actor became convinced during those two years that he’d just never get his own “Daredevil” series again.
“We stopped shooting the original show at the end of 2016, beginning of 2018 and found out it was canceled somewhere in that period,” Cox said about his original stint playing Daredevil on the Netflix series of the same name, which ran for three seasons between 2015 and 2018. “And then it wasn’t until midway through 2020 that we got a phone call from Kevin saying that they were interested in bringing the characters back.”
Marvel Studios then went completely radio silent on Cox, so he “completely let go” of any possibility of starring in a “Daredevil” reboot series. He continued to stay in touch with Vincent D’Onofrio, who played Kingpin and always held on to the belief that their time would come for a return.
“I’d moved on and occasionally Vincent and I would chat and he would say things like, ‘Oh, they’re going to call. I think they’re going to us, but they’re going to call us,’” Cox said. “And I would get off the phone and be like, ‘The guy’s delusional! He’s got to let it go. It’s going to be 10 years and he’s still going. It’s over. It’s definitely over.”
Cox added that he was “shocked” when the second call arrived two years later confirming the plan to bring Daredevil into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and to give him his own series with “Daredevil: Born Again,” the first footage from which recently debuted at Disney’s D23 convention.
Joining Cox in “Daredevil: Born Again” are returning cast members Jon Bernthal as the Punisher; Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page; Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson; and Wilson Bethel as Poindexter. The cast’s newcomers include Michael Gandolfini, Margarita Levieva, Jeremy Earl and and Ayelet Zurer.
It’s been a long road to the screen for “Daredevil Born Again.” The show hit a speed bump last year when filming stopped amid the WGA Strike. With less than half of the episode order filmed before the production shutdown, Marvel decided to overhaul the project entirely with only some of the footage remaining. The show went in a new creative direction after parting ways with head writers Chris Ord and Matt Corman. Dario Scardapane, who wrote and executive produced on Netflix’s Marvel series “The Punisher,” became the new showrunner.
“Daredevil: Born Again” won’t premiere until March 2025 on Disney+, but a second season is already in development.