No good comic book character dies for very long; pretty much every beloved hero has perished and then made an remarkable return to life at some point. And apparently, those same rules apply to comic book TV shows as well.
Some four years after its final season premiered, Daredevil is readying a return — at a new home. Netflix was the original home of the Marvel series about Charlie Cox’s crusading blind lawyer, along with several other gritty TV series involving other street-level New York City heroes who collectively became The Defenders. After Disney started their own streaming service, Disney+, and after Marvel restructured their TV production so all of it was produced by the same creative team that made their movies, the Netflix series all came to an end.
But a few months ago, the old episodes of those Netflix series — Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher — migrated over to Disney+. Meanwhile Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home, while Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin made his return in Hawkeye. It seemed like the table was being set for more Daredevil and now, sure enough, news has broken that another batch of episodes is in development.
According to Variety, the new iteration of the series is being written by Matt Corman and Chris Ord, who co-created the USA Network series Covert Affairs. There’s no word yet how much of the original cast will return, but given both Cox and D’Onofrio’s appearances elsewhere, it would be shocking if they at least didn’t return to reprise their roles.
While four years is a long time between seasons of a TV show, some of that wait was apparently unavoidable. That’s because the contract between Marvel and Netflix for their series included a stipulation that if the shows were canceled, the heroes from Daredevil, The Defenders, and the rest couldn’t appear in other Marvel projects for at least two years. Basically, all the characters got put in time out for a couple years, but now they’re back — and, presumably, other Marvel Netflix heroes could theoretically return now too.
The other big question about the new Daredevil is how adult the series will be allowed to be. Marvel’s Netflix shows had a level of mature content that’s generally not present in anything else Marvel has made. One assumes the Disney+ version will be a little toned down, but how much? While we wait for an answer, the Netflix episodes of Daredevil — and the other Marvel Netflix series — are already available to stream on Disney+.
Sign up for Disney+ here.
The Best TV Shows That Only Lasted One Season
