BLINDSIDED: DAREDEVIL won’t go fourth on DISNEY+…

Daredevil has had a turbulent time on the television screen and it now looks set to be no less fraught.

Daredevil originally appeared, very successfully, as part of Marvel‘s original deal with Netflix, running for three seasons between 2015–2018 with Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk. Fans loved it, critics were impressed, but it subsequently became a victim of Disney‘s purchase of Marvel and the decision to try and consolidate all of the tv productions under one banner (and be broadcast on Disney+).

For a long while there were rumours that the series might be revived in some form and eventually things began to move forward. Matt Corman and Chris Ord were brought in as head writers. Though Cox and D’Onofrio agreed to reprise their roles, it was initially seen as a thematic revivial, rather than being a formal continuation and it was expected to be lighter in tone. The initial plan was to have a first season of eighteen episodes.

Plans changed.

The series’ production was delayed by serious Hollywood labour disputes in 2023 and Marvel took the opportunity to look at the episodes that had been filmed. They decided it was not what they wanted. Ultimately, they realised that fans were wanting something similar to the Netflix years. Dario Scardapane, a writer on Netflix‘s Daredevil spin-off series The Punisher (which ran from 2017–2019 on Netflix), was hired to serve as showrunner with Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead as lead directors. It was a substantial u-turn, no small undertaking on a financial and creative level.

But it seemed to work. The proposed episode run dialed back the lawyering aspects that had dominated the Corman/Ord approach and the first season was reduced to nine episodes, with an eight-episode run for a second season. Though the first season of Daredevil: Born Again did feel a little piecemeal, it received a generally good reception from fans and the second also did well. A third season was agreed and was filmed in early 2026.

However, Marvel announced this week that the third season would now be the last and that Scardapane had left the series, his contract was not renewed with Marvel. This was somewhat surprising given that the season was still in post-production at his point of departure.

Once again, it appears that Disney/Marvel‘s plans may be the cause, with the perception that although there are plans for further ventures, it does seem as if there is a winding down of the current platform of offerings.  Despite suggestions and vague plans, Daredevil Born Again‘s third season (to be shown early in 2027) and VisionQuest (out next month) there do not seem to be any firmly-announced streaming ventures and it follows the surprise reversed-renewal of Wonder Man (which will no longer get a second season).