The vigilante of Hell’s Kitchen has been forced to take a break. According to Deadline, production on Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again had to be suspended due to the WGA strike. The show joins Billions, Evil, and Severance as the latest New York-based production to be disrupted due to the strike.
According to Deadline, what happened was that WGA members set a picket line at Silvercup East, the location where filming was supposed to take place for Daredevil. Members of Teamster Local 817 and IATSE Locals 829 and 52 refused to cross the picket line, which led to production wrapping for the day at one PM without being able to film at all. The events have been related through a couple of tweets available below.
The eighteen-episode show will be the first step in integrating characters, like Daredevil and Kingpin, into the MCU. These characters began their on-screen life on Netflix when Marvel had a slate of more mature TV shows on the platform almost ten years ago. They shared the Netflix-Marvel universe with lesser-known heroes and villains like Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Kilgrave, and Iron Fist.
Marvel has been planning on introducing Charlie Cox’s (Stardust, Kin) Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio’s (Godfather of Harlem, The Kid) Kingpin into the bigger MCU for the last couple of years. Both actors had cameos in MCU movies and TV shows before Marvel revealed their new show Daredevil: Born Again. Cox had a small cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home as Spider-Man’s attorney. Daredevil also recently appeared in a couple of episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law where Cox appeared wearing a new suit, and having a brief romance with She-Hulk, played by Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black, Perry Mason). D’Onofrio reprised his role as Kingpin for the season finale of Hawkeye, which surprised fans of the original Daredevil show.
The cast of the show includes Cox as Matt Murdock aka Daredevil; D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk also known as Kingpin; Jon Bernthal (American Gigolo, The Bear) will be reprising his role as Frank Castle aka The Punisher; Margarita Levieva (The Deuce, In from the Cold); Sandrine Holt (American Gigolo, The Expanse) who according to The Hollywood Reporter is going to play Vanessa Fisk, the wife of Kingpin; Michael Gandolfini (The Deuce, The Independent); Nikki M. James (Spoiler Alert, Proven Innocent); and Arty Froushan (Carnival Row, House of the Dragon). Two notable absences from the cast are Matt Murdock’s closest friends Karen and Foggy, played by Deborah Ann Woll (Children of Éarte, Deborah) and Elden Henson (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Jobs) in the Netflix series.
Chris Ord (Containment, Covert Affairs) and Matt Corman (The Enemy Within, The Brave), who can’t be on set at the moment due to the strike, serve as both writers and executive producers for the show.
Daredevil: Born Again is set to premiere in the spring of 2024 on Disney+. The original Daredevil show is available to stream on Disney+. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, The Punisher, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Iron Fist, and The Defenders are also available to stream through Disney+.