Summary

Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson transitioned from indie films to Marvel series like Moon Knight and Daredevil.

Daredevil: Born Again features Matt Murdock focused on his personal life and Wilson Fisk running for mayor.

The series emphasizes brutal action scenes with practical effects to showcase the humanity and flaws of the characters.

Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson burst onto the indie festival scene over 10 years ago with their special brand of genre-bending, mind-defying horror films, including The Endless, Synchronic, and Something In The Dirt. These unique films cleared the path for Moorhead and Benson to lock the deal with Marvel, soon directing hit series Loki, Moon Knight, and now Daredevil: Born Again, the wildly anticipated return of Hell’s Kitchen’s favorite lawyer.
Having pushed himself to his limit, Charlie Cox’s beloved Matt Murdock has hung up the Daredevil suit for good. Now, he focuses on work and balancing his personal life. At the same time, Vincent D’Onofrio’s chilling Wilson Fisk is out pressing the flesh, running for Mayor of New York City. As both men pursue a brand-new start, their intertwined histories of crime and violence return to haunt them. The series features the return of Elden Henson’s Foggy Nelson, Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page and Jon Bernthal’s fan-favorite Frank Castle, The Punisher.
Collider’s own Steve Weintraub had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Moorhead and Benson to talk about all things Daredevil: Born Again. During their conversation, they discuss the show’s mind-blowing practical effects, cutting their teeth on Moon Knight, and the importance of maintaining the Daredevil legacy as filmmakers, storytellers, and, most importantly, fans.
Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson Share Their Journey

From indie films to helming hit series for Marvel Studios.

COLLIDER: What the hell has it been like for you guys jumping from Moon Knight to Loki and now getting the keys to one of the Ferraris?
JUSTIN BENSON: First off, it means a lot, especially a lot coming from you. Thank you for watching it, and thank you for the kind words. I’m trying to keep the journey down to the CliffsNotes version, but when we came on to Moon Knight, that was our first time ever working with something at that scale. It was huge. So many wonderful things about it, like working with Mohamed Diab, the showrunning director on that one.
Interestingly, there’s a connection between Ethan Hawke on that show and Vincent D’Onofrio, like Ethan Hawke telling us on that show how much he admired Vincent’s work on Daredevil. Then, when the job came up, Aaron and I remembered that, and apparently Vincent and Ethan had spoken about it, like, “They’re not horrible to work with!” Anyway, then we did that, and we were really proud of the work we did. Though, again, it was pretty wild going from our tiny indie films to Jordan Peele’s Twilight Zone, which was an awesome experience, by the way, and Archive 81, and then this whole other scope. But after Moon Knight, we went on to Loki.

Related

‘Moon Knight’ Director Mohamed Diab Breaks Down the Finale, From Layla’s Big Moment to That Post-Credits Scene

He also discusses which elements he was most proud of in terms of bringing Egyptian representation to the small screen.

AARON MOORHEAD: Yeah, and that was the first time being showrunning directors, too. We took to it pretty easily. It was one of those things where we had to explore our boundaries in Moon Knight, but now we kind of knew them and were able to still create within them and felt really good about that. So with Daredevil, really, the apprehension was that we love the original show so much. We just didn’t really want to let everyone down, but we really didn’t want to let ourselves down because we love that show. It would be ruining something that we love if it didn’t work for us.
So the good news is, everyone involved seemed to be a fan of the show. Nobody was like, “What’s Daredevil?” Because of that, we were able to take to it easily and check all of our own instincts, like, “We, as fans of this, like this, right?” And we all do. So, the pressure was very high, but we’re really proud of it. We think it worked great.
BENSON: Something that’s actually really interesting, and I never thought about this way, but you know the famous oner in the prison in Season 3? We’ve studied that oner just to learn from it as filmmakers in general. It’s so interesting to go from studying that and then being, rightfully so, obligated to take your swing at your attempt at it. It was a really special experience.
Episode 1 I think fans are going to have a really good time with.
The Directing Duo Will Return for ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2

How many episodes of Season 1 did you guys helm, and how many are you doing in Season 2?
MOORHEAD: We did three episodes of Season 1. The beginning and the end, basically. And then I actually don’t know what’s announced of Season 2. Sorry about that.
Are you doing episodes?
MOORHEAD: Yes. We’re working on Season 2 right now as we speak. Well, not as we speak, but after we speak.
I learned that it starts shooting on Friday, so I couldn’t be more excited.
MOORHEAD: Us too.
‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Brings the Brutality

“We felt really lucky that showing the grotesque was meaningful.”

Image via Marvel Studios

Let’s get into the oners now. People love the characters, but it’s one of these shows where people love the characters as much as they love the action, and the reason the action works so well is because you care about Matt Murdock and all the different characters. The action is fucking awesome. Talk a little bit about how important it is to deliver on that. As you said, oners are one of the staples of Daredevil, so how often do you want to sneak those in in the episodes that you helm?
BENSON: One of the reasons why we’re in love with the original Netflix show is its achievement in somehow making these masked vigilantes so human that you feel every drop of blood. The other tradition of the show, obviously of the brutality, is it can get gruesome. It’s so important to us to show that these very human, flawed people, even the antagonists—even Wilson Fisk in Season 1 of the Netflix show when we meet him as just a guy falling in love—all of these people, the way that their pain or their ego or their sense of justice when it manifests in violence, the violence itself is grotesque.
There are two things happening simultaneously where, as technicians, as filmmakers, we’re impressed when these practical effects get done right, and that’s fun. But as storytellers, we felt really lucky that showing the grotesque was meaningful, that it was saying something, that it was saying, “Good guy or bad guy, this violence is wrong, and it’s gross,” and yet it’s still entertaining. And again, as filmmakers, we’ve seen some practical effects on this show that we literally didn’t know were possible.
MOORHEAD: Yeah, you’ll see something in the final episode, and you’ll know what we’re talking about. You’ll be like, “Oh, yeah. Got it, guys.”
Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2 premiere on Disney+ on March 4, with subsequent episodes dropping every Tuesday.

Daredevil: Born Again

Release Date

March 4, 2025

Showrunner

Chris Ord

Writers

Chris Ord

Franchise(s)

Daredevil, Marvel Cinematic Universe