Summary
- Daredevil: Born Again pays homage to the original Netflix series cast.
- Karen and Foggy are initially not part of the reboot because the production reportedly didn’t want to tie the series to the Netflix series.
- Vincent D’Onofrio believed that Daredevil: Born Again worked well because it served as a continuation of Netflix’s original series.
Vincent D’Onofrio spoke about Daredevil: Born Again days before it premiered on Disney Plus. According to him, they did it right by acknowledging its ties with the original Netflix series.
Daredevil: Born Again features the cast members of the original series that previously streamed on Netflix. Charlie Cox returns as Matt Murdock aka Daredevil. Several of his Daredevil co-stars join him in the reboot, including D’Onofrio (Wilson Fisk/Kingpin), Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), Elden Henson (Franklin ‘Foggy’ Nelson), Wilson Bethel (Benjamin “Dex” Poindexter / Bullseye) and Jon Bernthal (Frank Castle/Punisher) to name a few. However, at least two of the aforementioned were actually not in the original lineup for Born Again. D’Onofrio said the new show was supposed to continue as if it had no connection with the Netflix series, but he was happy that the production changed their minds.
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D’Onofrio spoke with IGN about Daredevil: Born Again. He acknowledged that the reboot did not include some of their original co-stars and it was difficult for him to accept that. “It was a straight-up ‘Hey, forget what you just saw, this is what we’re doing’ that was tough for me to swallow and we felt emotional about not having the others back,” D’Onofrio shared. For instance, Woll’s Karen and Henson’s Foggy were not supposed to return. Speaking about their absence in the early part of the project, D’Onofrio said that Woll and Henson owned their characters as far as he was concerned and for him, they needed to return because they were part of the Daredevil “family” because no one could portray Karen and Foggy other than the two. The people behind the show eventually decided to have them back and make the reboot a continuation of the original Netflix series, which was what D’Onofrio also wanted. He said:
I would consider [‘Daredevil: Born Again’] a fourth season, it’s a new path, we kind of blow it up, the past. But it’s there and it’s connected. The way that we finally ended up doing it, it worked really well and I think it needed the connection to the Netflix show. It needed the other characters to come back. Everybody needed all the familiar faces. The other iteration wouldn’t have had that.
When Daredevil: Born Again was announced, Woll was not one of the original cast members. She addressed this in a previous interview in December 2023, expressing her desire to reprise her role in the series. “I really appreciated about my time playing Karen Page, and I would hope that if I got to do it again or if it continues, that people would have the same care for her,” she told ScreenRant. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Woll recounted the time when her future in the MCU was in limbo. According to her, she went through a “roller coaster of feelings about it.” She added, “The thing to always remember is that even if something might feel personal, it’s just not. This business is too enormous for anything to be personal.” She was pleased to be asked back in the reboot.
D’Onofrio was right that the reboot should maintain its ties with the Netflix series. The debut episode was touching and moving due to the return of Woll’s Karen and Henson’s Foggy. The pair even played a significant role in the first episode, which ended with Foggy’s death, leaving the audience shocked and brokenhearted. The reaction would not have been that strong had it killed another character, all the more a new one. So, yes, making the reboot a continuation of the original series made sense, and it only made the story more compelling, especially for fans who have been following the show since its debut in 2015.
Daredevil: Born Again streams on Disney Plus.
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The Daredevil: Born Again producer said Marvel bosses were supportive of their brutal and violent approach in the Daredevil reboot.
Source: IGN