In a recent tweet, Steven DeKnight, the showrunner of Netflix’s Marvel series “Daredevil,” expressed his displeasure towards the upcoming Disney+ reboot of the show titled “Daredevil: Born Again.” DeKnight referred to the reboot as an “old Disney scam” that aims to avoid financially compensating the original creative team behind the Netflix series.
“Daredevil: Born Again” is written and executive produced by Matt Corman and Chris Ord, known for their work on “Covert Affairs.” The show will center around Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, also known as Matt Murdock, a lawyer who fights crime at night. Vince D’Onofrio will reprise his role as mob boss Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin.
Steven DeKnight served as the showrunner for the first season of Netflix’s “Daredevil,” which premiered in 2015 and ran for three seasons. His comments came in response to a post on Twitter by Thomas, a grip who is part of the IATSE union representing film, TV, and stage crew workers. Thomas called the retitling of the series a “scam” designed to reset contract terms to Season 1 levels. DeKnight agreed with Thomas, stating that it is an “old Disney scam” and should be addressed by all guilds and unions to prevent exploitation.
DeKnight further clarified his comments, expressing his excitement to see Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio reprise their iconic roles. However, he believes that claiming the reboot as a complete restart allows Disney to avoid paying the original creatives what they are owed. DeKnight referred to these actions as “corporate shenanigans.”
The cast of “Daredevil: Born Again” includes Margarita Levieva, Sandrine Holt, Michael Gandolfini, Arty Froushan, Nikki M. James, and Jon Bernthal reprising his role as Punisher. The new season was being filmed in and around New York but had to suspend production due to the WGA strike. It was three months into an eight-month shoot for an 18-episode season when the strike occurred.
Charlie Cox, the actor who portrays Daredevil, previously mentioned that the reboot should be a reincarnation and different from the Netflix series to have a purpose. While he believes the Disney+ version will be dark, Cox expects it to be less gory than the Netflix counterpart.
Steven DeKnight’s comments shed light on the behind-the-scenes contractual issues that creators and crew members can face during reboots and new iterations of beloved series. It remains to be seen how industry guilds and unions will respond to these concerns and if any changes will be made to prevent what DeKnight calls an “old Disney scam.”
