The creative team behind Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again is opening up about what went wrong with the first season and why the upcoming second season is shaping up to be a completely different beast. With the March 24 premiere date fast approaching on Disney+, showrunner Dario Scardapane is making it clear that the eight-episode second season is where the series finally gets to “really let it rip.”
After a first season that even its own showrunner admits was a “cobbled-together Frankenstein,” the pressure is on for the revival to deliver the street-level grit that fans have been waiting for since the original Netflix series ended. And according to Scardapane and the cast, the stakes in Season 2 are not just high—they’re deeply personal for Matt Murdock and everyone caught in the war between Hell’s Kitchen’s favorite vigilante and New York’s most corrupt mayor.
Why Season 1 Was a ‘Frankenstein’ and What That Means for Season 2
Dario Scardapane didn’t hold back when describing the creative chaos behind the first season. In a recent interview with SFX Magazine, he explained that Season 1 was a patchwork of different ideas because he was brought in after previous showrunners Chris Ord and Matt Corman had already shot nearly half the season .
“The task of season one was a really sick kind of fun. They’d gone in a direction where it was a different kind of show,” Scardapane said, referring to the original plan for a more procedural courtroom drama . When Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and other executives decided the show wasn’t working, Scardapane had to salvage existing footage while grafting in new material to shift the tone back toward the action-heavy style fans expected.
The result was a season that Scardapane himself describes as a collection of incompatible ideas lacking a singular vision. One of the most controversial changes he made was filming the opening sequence that showed the death of Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson)—a moment originally planned to happen off-screen . While Scardapane hasn’t directly addressed fan backlash over killing off Matt Murdock’s beloved law partner, his comments suggest Season 2 will benefit from a clean slate.
“By landing really strongly at the beginning and end with an idea of ‘This is what the show wants to be, this is what the show is’, we were able to kick the narrative into the second season relatively unfettered,” he explained .
‘Letting It Rip’: What the Showrunner Promises for Season 2
With the creative reset behind them, Scardapane says Season 2 will finally deliver the intensity the franchise is known for. He promised the new episodes will “really let it rip in a way we might not have been able to last season” .
That means higher stakes, bigger action sequences, and a tighter focus on the central conflict. Executive producer Jesse Wigutow backed this up in a separate interview with Collider, describing Season 2 as “a very big portrait that we’re telling, a big New York City story, crime, politics” .
Wigutow emphasized that while the season expands the scope, it all comes back to the core relationship. “We told this really big story, it got very wide, and then we kind of drive it in the finale to really what matters most. I think what people care about are these two characters and the conflict that they’re in, how deeply they hate each other, and how deeply they need each other” .
The climax reportedly strips away all the surrounding elements to leave Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) face-to-face in what Wigutow promises is a satisfying conclusion to the season’s arc.
Mayor Fisk Declares War on Vigilantes
The official synopsis from Marvel Television sets up a terrifying scenario for New York City. “In season 2, Mayor Wilson Fisk crushes New York City underfoot as he hunts down public enemy number one, the Hell’s Kitchen vigilante known as Daredevil. But beneath the horned mask, Matt Murdock will try to fight back from the shadows to tear down the Kingpin’s corrupt empire and redeem his home” .
The tagline for the season—”Resist. Rebel. Rebuild.”—captures the uphill battle Matt faces. Fisk isn’t just a crime lord anymore; he has the full power of City Hall behind him, along with an anti-vigilante task force actively hunting Daredevil . This raises an interesting question that even fans are debating: With so many superheroes living in New York, why is Daredevil the only one fighting back against a corrupt mayor?
Scardapane addressed this by explaining that the show exists in its own corner of the MCU. “The joke we make is, ‘Oh, those guys are uptown—we’re downtown!’ We kind of have a pocket that’s in this world of Hell’s Kitchen, in this world of New York,” he said . While he’s open to crossovers, the focus remains granular on this neighborhood and its characters.
Jessica Jones Joins the Fight
One of the biggest draws of Season 2 is the long-awaited return of Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones. The fan-favorite Netflix hero is officially crossing over into the MCU proper, and the teaser trailer shows her teaming up with a battered and missing Matt Murdock .
The trailer suggests Matt has been off the grid for a while. When Jessica finds him injured, she deadpans, “I hope you can walk, because I’m not carrying you” . The duo then takes on Kingpin’s forces, marking the first time these Defenders have shared the screen since the 2017 crossover series.
Wilson Bethel, who returns as the unstable Benjamin Poindexter aka Bullseye, jokingly compared the new season to a life-changing event. Speaking at Rhode Island Comic Con 2025, Bethel told fans, “Are there people out there who have been there for the birth of their first child? Anybody? [This is] better than that” .
The cast also welcomes new faces, including Matthew Lillard as a mysterious villain named Mr. Charles and Lili Taylor in an undisclosed role . Deborah Ann Woll returns as Karen Page, with hints that her relationship with Matt may rekindle, though glimpses of Elden Henson’s Foggy Nelson appear to be flashbacks following the character’s death in the Season 1 premiere .
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Release Details and Episode Count
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 premieres on March 24, 2026, exclusively on Disney+ . The season consists of eight episodes, continuing the streamlined format that allowed the creative team to focus on a tighter narrative .
For viewers in India, the series will be available on JioHotstar starting the same day . UK audiences can stream it on Disney+, while Canadian and Australian viewers will also find it on the platform with a simultaneous release.
The first season of Daredevil: Born Again, along with all three seasons of the original Netflix series and The Defenders, is currently available for streaming on Disney+ for those wanting to catch up before the new episodes drop .
Charlie Cox has already wrapped production on the season, and the writers’ room is preparing to open for a potential Season 3, with production targeted for a spring start if the show moves forward . For now, all eyes are on March 24 to see if this “Frankenstein” can transform into the definitive Daredevil story fans have been waiting for.
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