Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 Is Confirmed as the Final Season, But I Don't Think This Is Goodbye for Charlie Cox

Daredevil: Born Again is not getting a fourth season, and the yet to release third season of the show has been confirmed as the final season of the series. For the second time, a third season of a Daredevil show is being called the last one, at least until Marvel announces something new down the road the way they did with Born Again after the original Netflix series ended.

In all seriousness, this is unfortunate and disappointing. But I am going to share why I am not quite as distraught as some others, because I am not convinced this is the last time we are going to be seeing Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock and the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.

How Daredevil Ended Up Back at Marvel After Netflix Canceled It

The original Daredevil series ran on Netflix from 2015 through 2018, and I am a massive fan of it. About a month after season 3 dropped, it was announced that the deal between Marvel and Netflix was coming to an end, with Disney Plus on the horizon. Shows like Jessica Jones were canceled before their final seasons even aired.

I cannot remember the exact details, but I know Marvel Studios was not allowed to do anything with those characters for a certain number of years, and I think it was about a three year hold, because four years later we saw Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home. After that cancellation, fans like myself spent years begging for the show to come back, and once Marvel was legally able to, they did.

Vincent D'Onofrio returned as Kingpin in the Hawkeye series before Cox showed up in Spider-Man. The original plan was just to bring these two actors back as these characters, but not as the exact same versions they played before. It was going to be more of an elseworld situation where the shows that came before were not really viewed as canon, with Marvel taking a very different approach to the characters and the tone in Born Again.

Kevin Feige Overhauled Born Again After Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio Raised Concerns

Thankfully, during the writer strikes, while production was shut down on Born Again season 1, Kevin Feige stepped in and watched what they had shot so far. He spoke with Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio, and they shared their concern that this was not the right direction. That is when Feige overhauled the whole thing.

They pivoted and made the show a full blown season 4 in spirit, if not technically. They brought back Karen, Foggy, and Vanessa, and they put all those old Netflix shows, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Punisher, and Daredevil, on Disney Plus as official canon to the MCU.

Why Season 1 of Born Again Felt Off While Season 2 Was Phenomenal

I have criticized Born Again season 1 for feeling off. They tried to keep what they had already shot before the big tone shift and the pivot to acknowledging the prior shows, and that season just jumps back and forth between being two very different shows. I am overall not a big fan of season 1. It is fine, it is not bad, but I would rank it well below the three seasons of the original series.

Born Again season 2 was a different story. That was a season made fully by the team that was brought in to fix season 1, which included Punisher showrunner Dario Scardapane. Season 2 of Born Again is just phenomenal, and I am sure season 3 will be just as good, if not greater.

Why Announce the Cancellation Before Season 3 Even Airs?

So why cancel it? I have always felt that this third season of Born Again would at the very least be the final season carrying that Born Again subtitle, not the final season of Daredevil as a whole. I assumed any following seasons would be called Daredevil something else, and I still think that is possible. But I do think that if they had any immediate plans to continue the show under a new subtitle, they probably would have announced that alongside this cancellation.

That raises the question of why they are even announcing this cancellation before season 3 airs. I would think that would hurt the show and could lessen its already low viewership. But maybe they think billing this as the final season is good marketing, framing it as a final showdown or final episodes.

A Concerning Detail: The Showrunner Left Before Post Production Wrapped

It does make me a little nervous to learn that Dario Scardapane has left season 3 of Born Again before post production is completed. It kind of makes me wonder if he is upset about the cancellation.

Where I Think Daredevil Goes Next in the MCU

My overall assumption is that we will see Daredevil continue on in the MCU, but it is looking like it will not be in his own show, and instead in an ensemble type show, perhaps with Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist, possibly a relaunch of the Defenders. But if Born Again is not being renewed because its views are low, I do not know how many more views Marvel would expect out of a Defenders show, unless they called it Heroes for Hire, got some really good writers involved, and maybe brought Scardapane back so it felt new.

I also think we could see Daredevil have a role in what I hope to God we get, which is a Punisher movie or a season 3 of his show, whichever. We could see him pop up in a Spider-Man movie, or maybe in Secret Wars. I could picture a Marvel team up movie with Spider-Man in the lead but Daredevil on the team, something in the vein of an Avengers movie but not called that, since Marvel has established that the Avengers, while based in New York City, do not really deal with small scale stuff.

In that scenario, maybe the Avengers are off world or on a mission somewhere else, and we get Spider-Man, Daredevil, Punisher, and maybe Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist protecting New York instead. I do think Cox will return, and I think D'Onofrio will return too.

What the Viewership Numbers Show

According to the data, Born Again season 2, despite being a much better season than season 1, had a significant drop in viewership, nearly fifty percent down from season 1, likely because season 1 was not that good. I can understand, from a business perspective, that if a show is not bringing in viewers, you cancel it.

Something I have never understood is when a show gets canceled despite having fantastic views, sometimes on its third season, because it is not bringing in new viewers. I would think you would still want to keep that show around to maintain the audience you already have, so you are not left with a churn situation. But I am not in that business, and I guess they have their reasons.

As far as Born Again goes, I am guessing they have determined financially that it is not a good investment, and I am guessing they probably determined the same thing with Wonder Man. I think there is a shakeup happening at Marvel and a lot of moving pieces right now, and maybe we will see the dust start to settle once Doomsday and Secret Wars come out and maybe Marvel is in a much better spot.

My Final Thoughts on Cox, D'Onofrio, and Kingpin

It is disappointing, and I wish this show could go on for several more years. I especially enjoy the legal aspect of the show, seeing Matt Murdock in court, and once they finish Born Again that will be over. I am pretty certain we will see plenty more of Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio in the MCU, and I think we can say with pretty great certainty that Daredevil and Kingpin will continue on in some form.

Honestly, the Kingpin and Daredevil pairing is getting a little old. I have always thought it would be interesting to see them have to work together against a common enemy. That is kind of what I want.

Do you think Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio will get another Daredevil show, or will Marvel take their characters somewhere else entirely?