Matt Murdock, aka: Daredevil, returns to the MCU next week in the Disney+ series “Daredevil: Born Again.” And if the first round of online reactions to the series is to be believed, then Marvel Studios made good on their promise to stay true to the original Netflix show’s dark and violent tone.

READ MORE: ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Cast Talk About The “Confusing” Early Version Of The Show That Was Shut Down

But according to showrunner Dario Scardapane and executive producer Sana Amanat, no one at Disney+ or Marvel told them to ease up on the grittiness. In a new interview with Collider, the pair instead said higher-ups encouraged them to give the show a gnarlier edge.  That’s quite a surprise after last year’s “Echo,” a “Daredevil”-adjacent limited series, had mature themes but very little violence onscreen.

But apparently Marvel wanted “Born Again” as bloody as possible. “I was shocked,” said Scardapane. “As somebody who worked on “The Punisher,” as somebody who works in this sandbox, there was never, ‘Hey, back it off.’ It was always like, ‘Does it make sense? Is it a good story?’ And getting a chance to work with [second unit director] Phil Silvera, who I’m a huge fanboy for, building these action sequences, making them eye-popping, making them real, making them gritty, making them hurt, Disney+ and Marvel never said, ‘Pull back.’”

That sounds promising for Daredevil fans who want “Born Again” to bring the pain. And Amanat also hinted that Marvel wanted to fully lean in to the show’s TV-MA rating early in development. “I have to say, Kevin Feige, Lou D’Esposito, and Brad Winderbaum, who are the heads of the studio, very much were like, ‘Go for it. The bloodier, the better, 100%,’” said the executive producer. “From the beginning, even in the old iteration of the show, we have a couple of sequences in there, shot by Dave McCumber, our other stunt coordinator, and there are some crazy things that happen, which you will see soon, hopefully. He shot the end of Episode 2, actually. That was in the old material. So, it was always the intention. It was a bit of like, ‘Let’s ask for forgiveness later from our big bosses.’ But yeah, they were very supportive.”

“Daredevil: Born Again” adapts the classic 1986 comic book storyline of the same name and follows up where Season 3 of the Netflix series left off. In that case, it should be easy for fans of Charlie Cox‘s rendition of the Hell’s Kitchen hero as well as newcomers to jump into the new show.  But Scardapane and Amanat tease that some episodes in particular will surprise everyone in how little they pull their punches. “There’s some crazy stuff that he does multiple times in Episodes 8 and 9 that I just love,” said Amanat. She also added, “There are a lot of nods to the fans. There are action moments in the books that we’ve been able to recreate, and I won’t say much more than that.”

So, does “Daredevil: Born Again” sound like a winner to anyone else? The new series nine-episode premieres on March 4, with Season 2 coming in early-mid 2026.