Marvel Television’s first 2025 live-action series, “Daredevil: Born Again,” is about seven-plus months away from premiering on Disney+. But that’s not stopping the cast from doing something of an early promo tour following their appearance at Disney’s D23 Expo.
The series, which has already been greenlit for a second season, is essentially a sequel to the “Daredevil” series, which ran three seasons on Netflix from 2015 to 2018. The streamer’s licensing agreement with Marvel ended, and the company reabsorbed the rights to the characters from the various series (Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and The Punisher).
READ MORE: ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Trailer Confirms Jon Bernthal & Features A Ms. Marvel Tease
However, “Daredevil: Born Again” is not quite a 1×1 sequel, and when it first began, it was fairly different aside from recasting Charlie Cox as Daredevil/Matt Murdock and Vincent D’Onofrio as the Wilson Fist/Kingpin. ‘Born Again’ infamously shut down last year and then started over when Marvel saw the footage, not exactly loving what they saw—bringing in a new showrunner (Dario Scardapane) and new lead directors (Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead). But during that rehaul, the show was rethought and brought back Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page and Elden Henson as Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, two beloved characters from the original series. Now, the show’s continuity seems connected, but not exactly, the cast clarified.
“There are storylines that reach back to the original series,” D’Onofrio explained to Entertainment Weekly this week. “Where our characters are coming from, where we are, and where we’re going, some of those threads lead back.”
Cox loved that the two shows featured “a shared character history” because “it gives such texture.” Yet the actor also suggested the series wasn’t entirely bound to the past.
“But at the same time, it can be an enemy because that is the stuff that’s left behind you as you go forward, and then you’re tied to it,” he added. “I felt like the writers and [showrunner] Dario [Scardapane] did a really amazing job at finding a way for us to have our history, to have our connections, but not dwelling on it so much that you are tied to it the whole time.”
Cox said Marvel hopes to “attract a new audience [by] being on Disney+,” so they didn’t want to “alienate” new viewers who might not have watched the entire three seasons on Netflix. The goal, he said, was to serve fans who have been there since the beginning and embrace newcomers, too.
“It’s a really tough job so I’m so impressed with what the writers managed to do by allowing us to keep that history but also present it in a way where it isn’t alienating,” he adds.
They admitted that some of the characters had changed slightly from the past, but they were too cagey to discuss this in detail for fear of spoilers.
“That’s a tough one because there’s only certain things we can talk about,” D’Onofrio commented. “I really don’t know what I can say about that other than time has passed, and they’ve tried to adjust themselves somehow. They’ve made adjustments, and that may or may not work out for them.”
Jon Bernthal, who plays Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, suggested that Marvel did change his character, and if they took “enormous leaps” with his character, there were reasonable reasons as to why. “If there were things that were much different, that they wouldn’t just be different and you were sort of forced to accept that. It was done for a reason and very intentional,” he said. “It wasn’t just huge jumps. I do continue to be blown away by how respectful this group and how much these folks who lead this show demand that we’re respectful to the fans.”
“Daredevil: Born Again” is set to premiere in March 2025 on Disney+. A trailer was released at D23, and while Marvel was never made public, it did make the rounds, and most fans seem to think the dark and gritty teaser was the best trailer shown of any Marvel film or series at the Expo.