It’s been a busy week for Marvel’s “Daredevil: Born Again” as production is ramping up in NYC. First, it was announced that Jon Bernthal would be returning to the role of Frank Castle, aka, The Punisher, in the Disney+ series alongside fellow former “Daredevil” cast members Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio in their respective Marvel roles. That pair have already showed-up in previous MCU projects. This came alongside a tidbit from THR that we might not see the return of Elden Henson as Murdock’s legal partner/pal Foggy Nelson or Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page in the new superhero series. On that note, Marvel Studios has found a director for “Daredevil: Born Again.”
A new report from THR has revealed that the studio has landed on veteran filmmaker Michael Cuesta to direct the first episode, with more directors expected to be named later during filming. The New York-born filmmaker is behind “American Assassin” and the Jeremy Renner-led “Kill The Messenger.” Cuesta’s career as a director has seen him tackle various television projects and their important pilots, such as “Homeland,” ‘Dopesick,” “Billions,” “Dexter,” and “City On A Hill.”
They mention the show’s call sheet will include Michael Gandolfini, Margarita Levieva, Sandrine Holt as Vanessa Fisk, and Michael Gaston. Holt is the first major recast from the Netflix era, as actress Ayelet Zurer previously played the role of the Kingpin’s wife. Could this be a sign Marvel Studios is looking to recast other supporting roles or reboot characters like Foggy/Karen in the future? We’ll have to see the overall plan once all the puzzle pieces are put together.
The show’s title refers to an established comic book run, but it’s unknown if the extremely grim subject matter of that original story will be a complete one-to-one adaptation, as elements were already used in the Netflix run that lasted three seasons before the plug was pulled. Of course, Cox has already appeared as lawyer Matt Murdock in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “She-Hulk” with him reprising his superhero persona in the latter. It remains to be seen if any other Netflix-era superheroes or supporting characters will eventually pop up over the lengthy 18-episode shoot when most of the Marvel shows on Disney+ have had 6-episode seasons. Cox and D’Onofrio are also set to appear next in the recently delayed “Echo” series that features the titular deaf character played by Alaqua Cox, who was introduced to audiences in the holiday-themed “Hawkeye” show.
“Daredevil: Born Again” is aiming for a release sometime in the spring of 2024; however, seeing that pushed to a later date wouldn’t be that shocking as Marvel hasn’t been exactly delivering these streaming shows on time. Even Bob Iger has been suggesting more is less and quality over quantity. Given all the balls they’ve been juggling at once to give fans a heap of MCU content, you can’t really blame them for missing release windows for the small screen.