“Before production was halted because of the writers and actors strikes, Vincent and I had expressed concerned 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,” Daredevil star Charlie Cox tells Deadline’s Crew Call podcast today.
As is well known, Marvel Studios’ revival of the Netflix series for Disney+ was a different beast, e.g., Matt Murdock’s legal partner Foggy Nelson died off screen, not to mention Karen Page was MIA for most of the show. The Punisher EP Dario Scardapene swooped in to save the day, taking over as Daredevil: Born Again‘s new EP and showrunner. A “Frankenstein” process of stitching together and repairing scenes ensued for what has become one of the better Disney+/Marvel series, in the same breath as Loki‘s first season, WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Solder.
Cox confesses, “I didn’t watch the show until it was out, partly because I was nervous about it. There were some things that we shot that didn’t make sense in the narrative.”
The former Boardwalk Empire star exclaims, “I’m in awe of what Dario achieved.”
Cox details his approach to playing Murdock, a role he first started playing 10 years ago after a rigorous audition process.
Also intriguing with the Daredevil: Born Again reboot is the rise of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Mayor Fisk. Ain’t it funny how similar it is to a certain Commander in Chief who is currently in power? But how’s that when these scripts were written before Donald Trump’s second term? Scardapene explains.
The duo also chat about the return of Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones in the next season.
Asks Cox, “When did Jessica Jones find out that I’m not dead? At the end of Defenders, everyone assumes I’m dead.”
The SAG Award ensemble winner says about Jones and Murdock, “There’s a mutual respect for one another. She finds him overly serious and too much of a choir boy, and he finds her to be crass and making light of too many serious situations; she’s more antihero than hero.”
Here’s our conversation with Cox and Scardapane: